Introduction
Link: https://gralhix.com/list-of-osint-exercises/osint-exercise-005/
Difficulty:
For beginners: a) Hard, b) Medium, c) Hard
For experts: a) Medium, b) Easy, c) MediumBriefing:
The image below is a screenshot from a zoo live cam. It was taken on January 15, 2023 at around 2pm local time.
Please answer the questions below:
a) In which zoo are these polar bears located?
b) What was the temperature at the time of the screenshot?
c) What were the exact coordinates of where the bears were lying down?
Click [here](https://gralhix.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/005.png) to open the photo on a new tab.Attachment:
Solution
Once again, what do we already know?
The photo is a screenshot of a webcam located somewhere in a zoo.
The date and hour is also known. This will be useful later to determine the temperature (next questions).
There are two polar bears on the photo.
I first tried to search on Google using keywords: polar bears zoo webcam
https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/cams/polar-cam
Here is the webcam I saw when I landed on the website:
Webcam angle changes every X minutes so we may wait for some time before getting the correct spot.
If we look at the top right logo, it is the same as in the given photo. This is probably the same webcam or at least the same model.
From the source code it is possible to get the PNG file:
Let’s see on the website if we can find a map of the zoo:
https://sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/05.26.23_SDZ26-Map-Front-no-qr_LowRes.pdf
The polar bears are on the top in the "Nothern Frontier" area.
In Google Maps, the map is not in the same direction:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/San+Diego+Zoo/@32.7363394,-117.1546213,915m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x80d95495497f80c9:0x5df0f4372635e247!8m2!3d32.7360353!4d-117.1509849!16zL20vMDF2MDVo?entry=ttu
Here, the bears are located on the bottom:
I used Street Maps to move inside the park and get a potential view of the enclosure:
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7345232,-117.1546855,3a,75y,94.22h,93.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spDAmoVoXKnmZ2ZvbXxQVJQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
The red rectangle corresponds to the webcam when I went on the website.
The blue one is a guess where the photo from the challenge was taken and the green cross is where the webcam is located to capture the red rectangle.
From the first screenshot I made of the webcam and the Street View capture, there are similarities:
The fake stones and the "ramp" look a lot like the photo from the challenge.
With Google Maps I continued to search for photos taken by people to find another point of view to be sure of the location:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Polar+Bear+Plunge/@32.7344424,-117.154574,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipOV5JW7PuThJtd11f4nIW4W4hgFseUsUkUm1hGh!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOV5JW7PuThJtd11f4nIW4W4hgFseUsUkUm1hGh%3Dw203-h152-k-no!7i4032!8i3024!4m15!1m7!3m6!1s0x80d95495497f80c9:0x5df0f4372635e247!2sSan+Diego+Zoo!8m2!3d32.7360353!4d-117.1509849!16zL20vMDF2MDVo!3m6!1s0x80d954bf20806b07:0xe1a430f7564593b8!8m2!3d32.7344424!4d-117.154574!10e5!16s%2Fg%2F1tn01j6f?entry=ttu
It looks like we have enough clues to conclude of the location:
The red cross is the exact location where the two bears were laying down (screenshot done in Google Earth).
Coordinates: 32.734453, -117.154573
The last question to answer is the temperature when the photo was taken. The date and hour is specified in the breefing.
Using Google to perform a quick search:
https://weatherspark.com/d/1816/1/15/Average-Weather-on-January-15-in-San-Diego-California-United-States#Figures-Temperature
From this website, the temperator is around 17.5 degrees Celcius.
https://world-weather.info/forecast/usa/san_diego/15-january/
From this other website, the temperator is colder, 15 degrees Celcius.
None of the websites I visited tell the same temperature. So it is hard to be sure.
Fun fact: after some time waiting in front of my screen, I finally managed to find the same exact view as in the challenge:
If you look at the source code, it is even possible to find the company in charge of the camera and even the server version.
But we’re not here to perform a (illegal) pentest.
Flag
a) San Diego Zoo, California, USA
b) Around 16 degrees Celcius
c) 32.734453, -117.154573