Re: How to solve this?

TL;DR: It's a job ad.

Like any obfuscated code, you find the eval and replace it with print, run it (in a safe environment!) you get:

#!/usr/bin/perl


#
# If you can see this comment well done!
# Now simply go to
# https://shaffata.digital/1.61803399/
# and follow the instructions there.
#




if (!$ENV{"SERVER_SOFTWARE"}){

#This has been Run as a Command Line Application

print "Welcome to the Digital Shaffata Employment Challenge\n\n

I am Jason, a British search guy that fell in love with a Sudani woman
+ 
and then fell in love with Sudan itself!\n
\n
I am looking for great coders, SEOs and serious problem solvers.\n
You have already passed the 1st test in the Digital Shaffata challenge
+ as 
you have managed to get this script running under the command line\n
                          Well done!\n
Now the REAL challenge begins!\n\n
 As you already know from seeing it,
this script is obfuscated and in the un obfuscated source code 
are some comments. There is one special comment inside this script tha
+t 
gives you a special URL related to the work that we do and that URL
allows you to enter your details so you can be fast tracked 
to an interview for a well paid, exciting,  cutting 
edge job in Sudan\n\n
Before I let you loose on the challenge I should give you a little clu
+e
or two. Strange Logic is the name of our company and our logic, is ind
+eed,
very strange. We are a high tech company that works with search engine
technology. I am sure you've heard of Google, Yahoo and many other lar
+ge,
international companies like that. we are MUCH smaller but operate in 
+a 
related area of search.\n
Our goal is to understand search engine technology
and algorithms and one thing we have found is that nature is very impo
+rtant
in what we do. Because of that golden ratio we work hard at replicatin
+g
the natural web.

\n\nGood Luck


Jason Duke
Chief Tea Boy
https://www.StrangeLogic.com/


P.S. To get the full URL you need to de obfuscate the code but if you 
+need another
clue I suggest running this as a CGI application :)\n\n";

}

else

{
#This Has been Run as a  CGI Application

print "Content-type: text/html\n\n\n";
print <<EOF;

<html>
        <head>
                <title>The Digital Shaffata Challenge</title>
                <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; ch
+arset=utf-8" />
                 <link rel=stylesheet type="text/css" href="https://sh
+affata.digital/main.css" title="style">
</head>

        <body>
                <h2><a href="https://shaffata.digital/" title="placeho
+lder for logo once we have it">The Shaffata Digital Challenge</h2>
                <div class="container">
                        <ul id="navCircle">
<!-- CSS Tabs -->
        <li><a href="https://www.strangelogic.com" title="Strange Logi
+c">Strange Logic</a></li>
               <li><a href="https://shaffata.digital/" title="Hack Pol
+and">Digital Shaffata</a></li>
               <li><a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=perl+man
+ual" title="Perl Manual Search">Perl Manual Search</a></li>

                        </ul>
                </div>


                <div class="maincontent"><div class="boxout">
                 <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">What is Shaffata.
+digital?</span><p>

          I am Jason, a British guy who fell in love with my own perso
+nal Kandaka, and then the country
of Sudan itself<p>
 
I am looking for great coders, SEOs and problem solvers to work in our
+ new office which will be in Khartoum.<p>
You have already passed the 1st test in this Digital Shaffata  challen
+ge as
you have managed to get this script running as a CGI application<p>
                          Well done!<p>
Now the REAL challenge begins! As you already know from seeing it,
this script is obfuscated and in the un obfuscated source code
are some comments. There is one special comment inside this script tha
+t
gives you a special URL related to the work that we do and that URL
allows you to enter your details so you can be fast tracked
to an interview for a well paid, exciting, full time, cutting
edge job in Sudan<p>
Before I let you loose on the challenge I should give you a little clu
+e
or two.<p>Strange Logic is the name of our company and our logic, is i
+ndeed,
very strange. We are a high tech company that works with search engine
technology. I am sure you've heard of Google, Yahoo and many other lar
+ge,
international companies like that. we are MUCH smaller but operate in 
+a
related area of search. Our goal is to understand search engine techno
+logy
and algorithms and one thing we have found is that nature is very impo
+rtant
in what we do. Because of that and the relationship  between
chr and ord we work very hard at replicating the natural web.
Good Luck
<p>

Jason Duke<br>
Chief Tea Boy<br>
<a href="https://www.StrangeLogic.com/">Strange Logic Limited</a><br>

<p>
P.S. To get the full URL you need to de obfuscate the code but if you 
+need another clue I suggest
running this as a command line application :)
<p>

<a style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);" href="https://shaffata.digital">Digi
+tal Shaffata</a></p>

             </div>
</div>
        </body>
</html>



EOF

}
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Comment on Re: How to solve this? Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: How to solve this? by marto (Cardinal) on May 20, 2020 at 07:19 UTC
This is how the wrong people get a foot in the door at an interview :p	[reply]
Re^3: How to solve this? by Fletch (Bishop) on May 20, 2020 at 17:49 UTC
At `$curJob` there was once a candidate who tried to get people here to ~~help~~ write a solution our take home interview coding problem. Considering there's several from our office varying levels of active here needless to say they didn't get a callback . . . The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie.	[reply] [d/l]