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[–]SandpaperIsBadTP 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I obviously don't know which ones are which, but a lot of Twitter accounts that do this sort of thing are Twitter employees that do this for testing purposes.

[–]DanOfBradford78 15 points16 points  (3 children)

I remember seeing about a YouTube account that does a similar kind of thing. IIRC, The videos posted are either white noise or pitch black. Kind of strange but I believe YT confirmed it's a test account

[–]loremusipsumus 6 points7 points  (2 children)

They were red, blue boxes on white background used to test video compression.

[–]DanOfBradford78 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Thanks! Wasn't too sure whether i was correct, but knew they did have a test account.

[–][deleted] 18 points19 points  (7 children)

There's a very curious tweet that the user SierraGolf5 tweeted moments ago here

"When I was bound apprentice in famous Lincolnshire Full well I served my master for nigh on seven years"

Lincolnshire Poacher was a very famous number station that was shut down recently, and it was connected to some MI5 intelligence work. The repeater for the number station was located in Cyprus, as you can see here )

The format of the numbers is most definitely the one used for numbers stations back in the day, and it was used as a means of communication using the OTP, one-time pad technique. My most probable guess is that this is the internetized version of the old shortwave number stations, and since the key for the messages is used once and thrown away, they are virtually impossible to decipher.

However, the mentioned tweet reeks of an ARG.

EDIT: Upon further inspection, the Lincolnshire Poacher is an old song, and the lyrics go as the tweet:

When I was bound apprentice in famous Lincolnshire,

Full well I serv'd my master, for more than seven year...

So, it's definitely referencing the old numbers station. Also, the avatar of the SierraGolf5 is an old machine used for the number stations. It's basically a sampler, with voices recorded in and played back, as you can see here

[–]Hedgehog65 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Wow. Great info. Are you a professional expert, or a hobbyist?

Tried to go to the Lincolnshire link you provided, but I think it was missing a ")". Here's the full link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincolnshire_Poacher_(numbers_station)

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (3 children)

I was a very avid listener and occasional contributor of number stations. Back then I discovered the Conet Project (which I HIGHLY recommend listening to), a series of recordings of various number stations. After setting up a few streams during the weird times when UVB-76 (that buzzing russian number station) stopped transmitting, I became involved with lots of people from all around the world who were also looking upon the phenomena. Eventually, me and many others formed priyom.org, a site that was an amateur project for discussing and following number stations. It was a child compared to the Enigma2000 project of various professional amaterus in HAM radio which eventually logged numerous number stations and scheduled them, but it grew big now. I eventually stopped visiting priyom.org because life suddenly happened, but the guys are still there and you can pay them a visit :)

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I was listening to a lot - actually just deleted the numbers stations sub from the menu last week - because there's not much that can be done with them but listen...no way to know what it's about, who's doing it, who they're for, or to solve or crack it. Yes I know that's the point and accept it but after a few hours of listening, it dawned on me this is way worse than listening to the police scanner full of endless cliffhangers. ;-0

[–]Hedgehog65 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I'll definitely check them out, and the Conet Project too. Thanks!

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just don't do it during midnight

[–]imtryingtoexplain 0 points1 point  (1 child)

"The repeater for the number station was located in Cyprus, as you can see here." Did you notice OP's username?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, no I haven't. I really think it's just a coincidence, but still...

[–]hopelessbookworm 17 points18 points  (6 children)

I've seen it argued that Twitter accounts like these might be the social media equivalent of number stations. Here's a really good article on the subject: https://theawl.com/the-real-weird-twitter-is-espionage-twitter-3eb3e07abc04#.4u5ngt5q6

I think it's entirely possible they could be number stations.

[–]loremusipsumus 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Most of them in the link are bot/test accounts trying look legit and get followers and then the person who mass created the accounts sell them for a few dollars.

[–]Starrtraxx 1 point2 points  (3 children)

What are number stations?

[–]hopelessbookworm 1 point2 points  (2 children)

They are shortwave radio stations that broadcast formatted lists of numbers, letters, words, etc. that are in code (probably for espianoge). Here's a BBC article: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24910397

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

And they will madden you to death after a few hours since, to swipe a phrase, these numbers stations aren't meant for you ;-p

[–]Starrtraxx 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks!

[–]heidivonhoop 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Omg I have nothing to add other than I LOVE stuff like this!

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (6 children)

Former cryptologist here and way too busy with school now to do much investigating, but the ZuluTango4 account posts every five minutes. And it posts five digits in 13 blocks. The picture and the numbered blocks leads me to believe it's not a testing bot account. It may be a bot but there's got to be some type of information.

I definitely believe that Twitter can and is used as a numbers type station. Technology the way it is nowadays and the fact that it's accessible from anywhere makes it a great way to communicate using a one time pad or other methods. It's one way communication which is the best way to get information to those you want getting it. The picture on the account makes me think it's not a government but rather someone who is playing a game or ARG.

[–]bloodr0se 1 point2 points  (5 children)

I always thought something like Snapchat would be a good modern equivalent for a numbers station. Time it right and you can transmit the message safe in the knowledge that it will be destroyed shortly afterwards.

[–]Professor_Hoover 0 points1 point  (4 children)

Except that Snapchat isn't actually secure.

[–]bloodr0se 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Neither is radio. If it was then there wouldn't be numbers stations broadcasts all over YouTube. What makes Snapchat unique is that every message sent over it has a short shelf-life and then becomes very difficult to find or recover after that.

[–]Professor_Hoover 0 points1 point  (2 children)

People have successfully hacked Snapchat's servers in the past and recovered images that were supposed to be deleted though, with a radio you truly do have only one chance to capture the message.

[–]bloodr0se 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Don't the numbers stations loop IIRC? I have to admit that my knowledge of numbers stations is based largely on YouTube, Wikipedia and what I've seen The Americans. :)

[–]Professor_Hoover 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some do and some don't. I think UVB-76, the most famous one, is usually unique messages. You could probably get away with the correct cryptography on SnapChat, I just think it's more inherently insecure than a radio broadcast that you have to intercept at the time of transmission.

[–]Yam0048 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This one's in a completely different format from the ones you posted, but here's another one: https://twitter.com/whitecardsystem?lang=en

Also, "zulu", "tango", "sierra" and "golf" are from the NATO phonetic alphabet.

[–]loremusipsumus 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Well anyone could create it with ease and it probably is some test for fun or as a prank. I could create an account named LISK it doesn't mean its related to LISK.

[–]shortstack81 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Are they bots? It's very easy to make a twitter bot--I have one.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Is your bot yet another horny 17 year old girl with big tits and bad grammar trying to sound smart and philosophizing with nobody - when she's not spamming the crap out of people? If so, please kill her. We don't like her or her 50 million spammer friends ;-p

[–]shortstack81 2 points3 points  (0 children)

haha nope. it just takes tweets from my usual account and others and mangles the words so it seems almost coherent.

[–]Max_Trollbot_ 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Now, I'm no cryptographer or anything, but did anybody else notice that all these twitter accounts as well as the one mentioned by /u/Yam0048 elsewhere in this thread all share one common follower?

He seems to be a guy who follows many bot accounts, including my favorite one, the Chuck Tingle Bot.

If I were to want an answer to what these accounts are, he'd probably be the guy I'd ask.

[–]Yam0048 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Username checks out? P:

Might just be a guy who likes Twitter bots. But hey, no harm in asking. Perhaps looking over these bots for so long has given him some unique insight...

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

just more low grade hipster-generated performance art poot.

[–]Zarradox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It sure looks like an attempt at a social media equivalent of a numbers station.

The SierraGolf5's picture is of a so-called Stasi Sprach Morse Machine which has a super interesting history related to Stasi-run numbers stations.

I'd guess they're "fan" accounts and not genuine government-run numbers stations, but it's still really cool. Unfortunately if they are using one-time pads correctly it'll be unbreakable, and in each case after the whole A858 thing I'd be seriously reluctant at putting any effort into stuff like this.

As an aside, one novel use for Twitter is for command and control for botnets, and other more innocent uses such as this tool that someone has packaged up nicely for Windows. I like the idea, and have considered using it to set up a dead man's switch for myself to shoot emails to people with necessary stuff should I be hit by a bus or something.