The Tale of Terrible Texters

Briefing:

Recently our agents have found a very interesting conversation between two hackers of a local hacking group called The TechTalkers, which could threaten the security of our school. The conversation was brought to our attention by an inside double agent who got us some text messages between members of the group and it's up to you agent to decode the messages, find out their meaning, and stop these hackers.

Hint: The messages contain a lot of emojis and it seems like those emojis are referring to turning something on or off. Find out what it is and why it's being turned on/off for a chance to stop the TechTalker's evil plans. 

The Message:

😁👏👏😁😁😁👏😁 😁😁👏👏😁😁😁👏 😁👏👏😁👏👏👏😁 😁😁👏👏😁👏😁😁 😁👏👏👏😁😁👏😁 😁👏😁👏👏😁😁👏 😁👏😁👏👏👏👏👏 😁👏👏😁👏👏😁👏 😁😁👏👏😁😁👏👏 😁😁👏👏😁👏😁😁 😁👏👏😁👏👏👏😁 😁😁👏👏😁👏😁👏 😁👏😁👏👏👏👏👏 😁😁👏👏😁😁😁😁 😁👏😁😁👏👏👏😁 😁👏😁👏👏👏👏👏 😁😁👏😁😁👏👏😁 😁👏😁👏👏👏👏👏 😁😁👏👏😁😁😁😁 😁👏👏😁😁👏👏😁 😁👏😁😁😁👏👏😁

Solving the Problem

1. One thing that should immediately stand out to you is "on and off." In computer science, what turns something on or off? BINARY!

2. Hmm... So what could these emojis stand for? Well, there's only 0's and 1's in binary...

Now, don't go and try hand-typing each emoji to zero and one. There are plenty of find and replace tools online, but we'll use CyberChef for simplicity.

Use these settings on CyberChef to replace the smiley face with 0 and the clapping hands with 1.

Now that you've got your zeros and ones, I'm pretty sure you know what to do since you've gotten this far:

Convert from binary!

And you've got your flag! b1n4rY_m34n5_0N_&_0fF