Unlock the Phone
Alex Mercer's phone was found on their desk, locked with a 4-digit passcode. Below is everything recovered from the desk. Work out the passcode from what's here, and hang on to anything else — not all of it is needed yet. This is a basic form of OSINT (open-source intelligence): gathering information from things people have made public or simply left lying around.
// ARTIFACTS FOUND ON ALEX'S DESK
Item 1 — Post-it note, stuck to the monitor
Happy Birthday Alex!! Can't believe it's already the 4th of September —
hope you have a great one. See you at drinks after work.
— Sam
Item 2 — Card found in the top drawer
🙂
SOUTHERN CROSS CYBER DEFENCE UNIT
A. MERCER
Building access — Level 2
Item 3 — Printed photo, tucked in the drawer
Handwritten on the back: "Case 4471 — Exhibit 04."
Item 4 — Printed social media post
Not every item on the desk is useful right now. One of them contains a date —
and a passcode is usually entered as DDMM (day, then month).
14:52
Enter passcode to unlock
Unlocked — Tuesday 14:52
Note — "If anything happens"
To self — If anything happens, my terminal password is: Bellingen#94 The case file is in the vault. Don't leave this lying around. — A