Base64 decoding with CyberChef

CyberChef is a tool that can be used when working with cyber security. It makes it possible to manipulate data without complex tools. Some of CyberChef’s functions are encoding/decoding, encryption/decryption, compression/decompression, as well as formatting, parsing, and extracting data. It became open-source in 2016, click here to read more about why it was released for everyone to use for free.

Find the tool at https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ where it can be used directly in the browser or downloaded.

Let’s see how easy it is to decode from base64 into a pdf with human-readable text.

Go to https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/

Under Input click on the symbol for “Open file as input”

This is the file we will be decoding into human-readable text

Choose the appropriate file to decode and click on “Open”

Under Operations find “From Base64” and drag it over to Recipe

At the bottom of Recipe click on “Bake!” if the “Auto Bake” box is not ticked off

Under Output click on the symbol for “Save output to file”

Give the file a name and save it as a pdf-file, click “OK”

Choose where you want to save the file and click “Save”

Open the pdf file to see it in a human-readable format