Decode the Matrix: A File Analysis Challenge

You could just randomly start clicking and opening this file, but is that really a safe way to go about it?  Tools exist that let us look into files without actually 'opening' them with applications that could inadvertantly run code.

Would something like a text editor open this file?  What are some better alternatives?  Have you ever used a Hex Editor tool?  Something like https://hexed.it/ is a great way to examine mysterious files!

Have you ever learned about 'magic bytes'?  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_file_signatures 

Although the ZIP process compresses the data, it still uses plaintext to indicate some of the files that are contained in the compressed archive.  What can you deduce from what you see in plain english (assuming you used a hex editor to investigate).

At this point, you know the file type and whats in it.  Can you then do a deeper dive, extract the contents and investigate those contents further?  There isn't much more after that, so if you've made it to here, congrats!