---
# System prepended metadata

title: 'Digital Footprint — TryHackMe '

---

**OSINT Challenge IV**


[https://tryhackme.com/room/osintchallengeiv](https://tryhackme.com/room/osintchallengeiv)

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## Task 1

**Description**  
An ACME Jet Solutions employee uploaded a photo of a residential property believed to be linked to ACME Jet’s early operations. The goal is to figure out where the picture was taken to confirm or debunk the rumour.

**Flag format:** `THM{City}`

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### Investigation

From the image provided, one unique thing immediately stood out, the sign **“The Rectory”** on the building.

I also noticed an **ADT armed response** badge on the door. From prior knowledge and experience playing GeoGuessr, armed response systems for private homes are extremely common in **South Africa**, which made it stand out compared to most other countries.

This made South Africa my initial guess, so I then checked the **EXIF data** of the image. The metadata showed the following coordinates:

`26° 12' 14.76" S, 28° 2' 50.28" E`

Providing these coordinates to Google Maps confirmed that the image was taken in **Johannesburg, South Africa**.

![Pasted image 20260206180638](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/H1tmYFEwWg.png)


![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/S1dBcF4wZx.png)


**Flag:**

`THM{Johannesburg}`



---

## Task 2

ACME Jet Solutions (`warc-acme.com/jef/`) is all over social media claiming they were founded in **2025** and that they are the fastest-growing data company in Africa. However, a former employee claims the company existed long before that.

The task is to verify the company’s founding date using **only public information**.

**Flag format:** `THM{YYYYMMDDHHMMSS}`

---

### Investigation

Attempting to use traditional website archives, such as the Wayback Machine, did not return any results for the site.

Because of this, I pivoted to checking **Internet Archive WARC metadata** using:

[https://archive.org/search?query=warc-acme.com](https://archive.org/search?query=warc-acme.com)

Expanding the result revealed archived crawl metadata, including fields such as **Addeddate** and **Firstfiledate**, which are useful for determining when the site first existed publicly.


![Pasted image 20260206194810](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/r1kKctEP-e.png)

Relevant metadata:

`WARC: acme.com/jef/ Publication date 2016 Topics warcarchives Item Size 9.5G Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2016-02-13 00:40:30 Firstfiledate 20160210224602 Lastfiledate 20160212160442 Scandate 20160210224602`

The key field here is:

`Firstfiledate: 20160210224602`

This confirms that the website existed publicly in **February 2016**, directly contradicting the claim that the company was founded in 2025.

**Flag:**

`THM{20160210224602}`

---

## Task 3


Further investigation uncovered another image believed to be connected to the company’s international expansion.

Research reveals that to the **right of the iconic landmark** is a building that played a major role in a country’s fight for independence. The building’s name is visible on the exterior wall.

**Flag format:** `THM{Landmark}`

---

### Investigation

The image clearly shows text and signage consistent with **Dublin, Ireland**.

![Pasted image 20260206195205](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/rkHoqY4v-l.png)


Using Google Lens confirmed that the image shows **The Spire of Dublin**.


![Pasted image 20260206195402](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/S1la9FND-l.png)


Another angle of the area:

![Pasted image 20260206195958](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/H1jkstEDbg.png)



While the Spire is the most visually obvious structure, it is not the answer. The Spire stands on **O’Connell Street**, directly outside and associated with the **General Post Office (GPO)**.

The question “What is the landmark?” refers to the **named, historically recognised building**, not the modern structure used as a visual clue. In this case, the Spire acts as a ruse but also helps determine the actual landmark.

**Flag:**

`THM{General Post Office}`

---

## Task 4

After uncovering ACME Jet Solutions’ origins and tracing their online presence through archived websites and landmarks, investigators believe an **internal document** was accidentally leaked by one of the company’s developers.

The document may contain information about the individual responsible for maintaining their systems.

The downloaded file was:

`internal-docs-1769695301727.odt`

---

### Investigation

Reviewing `meta.xml` revealed the following useful information:

- **Internal username:** `markwilliams7243`
    
- **Description note:** “Just remember Robin, don’t publish this externally!”
    
- Creation and edit timestamps, likely red herrings
    

This gives two clear human pivots:

- `markwilliams7243`
    
- `Robin`
    

Since the document text mentioned that a **video would be released soon**, this suggested checking platforms where videos are commonly published.

Using a username checker:

[https://instantusername.com/?q=markwilliams7243](https://instantusername.com/?q=markwilliams7243)

![Pasted image 20260206202112](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/r1hmoFNDZl.png)



Most platforms returned no results. However, **YouTube** did have a user with this exact username.

Inspecting the YouTube profile revealed the flag directly in the post content.


![Pasted image 20260206202233](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/HJSfsFEPbx.png)


