The Hack: Ghost Protocol 👻

A horror-themed hacking simulator and Capture The Flag (CTF) challenge game designed for both beginners and enthusiasts. Experience a progressive difficulty system while unraveling a dark narrative in a terminal-based horror adventure.

• Horror Theme: A chilling narrative that unfolds as you progress through the challenges
• Progressive Difficulty: Start with basic challenges and advance to complex hacking scenarios
• Beginner-Friendly: Designed for non-techies with hints and educational content
• Sanity System: A unique horror twist - lose sanity as you delve deeper

• 26+ CTF Challenges: Multiple categories including:
  • Basic encoding (Base64, Hex, Caesar cipher)
  • File system exploration
  • Network analysis
  • SQL injection
  • Cryptography
  • Web/Mobile security
  • Buffer overflow concepts
  • Reverse engineering

• Challenge Difficulty Variants: Beginner, Standard, Advanced, and Expert modes for existing challenges
• Adaptive Difficulty: Smart difficulty selection based on your performance
• Dynamic Practice Mode: Randomly generated challenges for skill building
• Advanced Settings: Comprehensive customization (difficulty scaling, hint verbosity, themes, accessibility)
• User Command Aliases: Create shortcuts for frequently used commands
• Multiple Save Slots: 5 save slots with export/import functionality
• Progress Analytics: Detailed performance tracking and learning insights
• Enhanced UI: Improved menus, settings, and user experience

• Cross-Platform: Works on Windows, Linux, macOS, and Web browsers
• Save/Load System: Multiple save slots with cloud export/import
• Terminal UI: Full terminal interface with colored output and ASCII art
• Advanced Command System: Tab completion, command history, and custom aliases

🌐 Play Now at hack.andernet.dev →

Experience the full game directly in your web browser - no installation required! The web version includes all features plus:

• Cross-device save file export/import
• Enhanced atmospheric horror effects
• Interactive tutorial system
• Advanced progress tracking
• Mobile-responsive design

• Rust (2021 edition or later)
• Terminal that supports ANSI color codes
  • Windows: Windows Terminal (recommended), PowerShell 7+
  • Linux: Any modern terminal (GNOME Terminal, Konsole, Alacritty)
  • macOS: iTerm2 or Terminal.app

Terminal Setup: For optimal experience, see Terminal Setup Guide

# Build the project
cargo build --release

# Run the game
cargo run --release

# Run tests
cargo test

1. Start the game: Run cargo run from the project directory
2. Enter your name: You'll be prompted to enter a name for your character
3. Read the story: Immerse yourself in the horror narrative
4. Select challenges: Choose from available challenges at each level
5. Solve puzzles: Use your hacking knowledge (or learn as you go!)
6. Progress through levels: Complete challenges to earn XP and advance
7. Manage your sanity: Watch your sanity meter - reaching 0 means game over!

• [1-N]: Select a challenge by number
• stats: View your detailed statistics
• save: Manually save your game (auto-saves after each challenge)
• quit: Exit the game (progress is saved)
• hint: Get a hint during a challenge (can be used multiple times)
• skip: Skip a challenge and try it later

• Arrow Keys: Use ↑/↓ to navigate through command history
• Left/Right Arrows: Move cursor within your current input
• Home/End: Jump to beginning/end of input
• Backspace/Delete: Edit your input
• Tab: Command completion (coming soon)

• Base64 encoding/decoding
• Hidden file discovery
• Basic network port analysis
• ROT13 cipher decoding
• Binary to ASCII conversion
• URL encoding/decoding

• Caesar cipher cryptography
• SQL injection basics
• Hexadecimal decoding
• JWT token vulnerabilities
• Path traversal attacks
• MD5 hash cracking
• Command injection

• HTTP header analysis
• Mobile deep link exploitation
• DNS tunneling detection
• Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
• API key leakage and secret exposure
• Session hijacking
• CORS misconfigurations

• Buffer overflow concepts
• Reverse engineering and XOR operations
• Format string vulnerabilities
• Race conditions
• Integer overflow exploits
• Advanced cryptography
• Final protocol challenges

This simulator teaches:

• Encoding schemes: Base64, Hexadecimal, ASCII
• Cryptography: Caesar cipher, XOR operations
• Web security: HTTP headers, SQL injection
• Mobile security: Deep linking, app analysis
• Network basics: Port scanning, service identification
• Binary exploitation: Buffer overflows (conceptual)
• Reverse engineering: XOR logic, decompilation basics

• Rust - A modern, safe systems programming language
• crossterm - Cross-platform terminal manipulation
• serde - Serialization/deserialization for save system
• rand - Random number generation for game elements

src/
├── main.rs          # Entry point
├── game.rs          # Main game loop
├── challenges.rs    # Challenge definitions and logic
├── narrative.rs     # Story and horror elements
├── state.rs         # Game state management
└── ui.rs           # Terminal UI and rendering

• ASCII art banners: Atmospheric visual design
• Glitch effects: Corrupted text for immersion
• Sanity meter: Psychological horror mechanic
• Dark narrative: Unfolding ghost story
• Ominous messages: Environmental storytelling
• Twist ending: Satisfying horror conclusion

Get started quickly with our comprehensive setup guide:

• 📖 Setup Guide - Complete development environment setup
• ⚙️ Configuration Guide - All configuration options explained
• 📋 Configuration Summary - Quick reference for all config files
• ✅ Setup Checklist - Verify your environment is ready

• 🤝 Contributing Guide - How to contribute to the project
• 🗺️ Roadmap - Future plans and innovations
• 🔒 Security Policy - Reporting security issues

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/and3rn3t/hack.git
cd hack

# Build and run
cargo build
cargo run

# Development workflow
cargo fmt              # Format code
cargo clippy          # Lint code
cargo test            # Run tests

cargo run

cargo build --release
./target/release/hack_simulator

src/
├── main.rs          # Entry point
├── game.rs          # Main game loop
├── challenges.rs    # Challenge definitions and logic
├── narrative.rs     # Story and horror elements
├── state.rs         # Game state management
└── ui.rs           # Terminal UI and rendering

The project includes comprehensive configuration for:

• Rust/Cargo: Cargo.toml, rustfmt.toml, clippy.toml, .cargo/config.toml
• Editor: .editorconfig, .vscode/ settings
• CI/CD: .github/workflows/ci.yml
• Git: .gitignore

See Configuration Guide for details.

The game includes educational hints and progressive difficulty to ensure accessibility while maintaining depth for experienced players.

The game includes mobile security challenges that teach:

• Deep link vulnerabilities
• Mobile app security concepts
• Cross-platform security considerations

These challenges are accessible through the terminal interface and don't require actual mobile devices.

Unlike traditional CTF challenges, The Hack: Ghost Protocol combines:

1. Horror narrative: Every challenge is part of a larger, unsettling story
2. Sanity mechanic: Your mental state affects gameplay
3. Progressive revelation: The truth unfolds as you advance
4. Atmospheric presentation: Terminal-based horror aesthetic
5. Educational horror: Learn real hacking concepts through a horror lens

This is an educational project designed to teach cybersecurity concepts through gamification. Contributions that add new challenges, improve the narrative, or enhance the horror atmosphere are welcome!

This project is created for educational purposes to teach cybersecurity and programming concepts.

1. Read carefully: Challenge descriptions contain important clues
2. Use hints: Don't struggle alone - hints are there to help
3. Take notes: Some challenges reference earlier concepts
4. Think like a hacker: Question everything, look for patterns
5. Manage sanity: Complete easier challenges first to build up XP
6. Explore: Try different approaches to problems
7. Learn: Use external resources to understand concepts

This is a learning tool. The hacking techniques discussed are for educational purposes only. Always practice ethical hacking and never attempt unauthorized access to systems.

Remember: In the Ghost Protocol, every hack has a cost. How far will you go to free the trapped souls?

"THE PROTOCOL NEVER ENDS... IT ONLY WAITS FOR THE NEXT HACKER..."