Scheme Catcher

The Silent Control System of the Jester

Once upon a time, before Hopper’s laughter echoed through HopSec Asylum, investigators discovered whispers about a strange server hidden somewhere on his personal systems. No one has actually seen it, no one has managed to access it, and every attempt to break in has failed. The few traces that exist point to a rough and unstable copy of King Malhare’s old command and control setup, rebuilt by Hopper into something twisted and unpredictable. Rumours say the place is scattered with odd folders, stray notes, and several suspicious binaries that seem to pulse with their own rhythm. Hopper is obsessed with building things, changing things, and breaking things just to rebuild them again, and he insists he never commits a single mistake. In his mind, everything he creates is perfect, even if it looks like chaos from the outside.

Stranger still is how the server behaves when anyone approaches. Connections drop without reason. Tasks appear, vanish, and then reappear elsewhere. Logs rewrite themselves. Some scripts reply to commands with messages that feel a little too aware. Hopper calls the place his masterpiece. He says it’s alive. He says it only listens to him.

Whether he planned sabotage, rebellion, or something far stranger remains unknown because no analyst has managed to look inside. All that is certain is that Hopper guards this secret with a wild grin and a mind that slips further away each day. The question is now: Can you prove he is wrong, or get lost in his madness?

Rules

• Do not share questions or hints, including in videos, streams, or any other medium while the event is running.
• Only hack machines deployed in the rooms you have legitimate, authorised access to.
• *.tryhackme.com and VPN servers are off-limits for probing, scanning, or exploiting.
• Teaming up is permitted.

For a more comprehensive list, please read about the Advent of Cyber 2025 Terms and Condition.

This challenge is unlocked by finding the Side Quest key in Advent of Cyber Day 9. If you have been savvy enough to find it, you can unlock the machine by visiting MACHINE_IP:21337 and entering your key. Happy Side Questing!