{"id":23236,"date":"2013-06-06T10:00:03","date_gmt":"2013-06-06T14:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/?p=23236"},"modified":"2014-07-09T15:00:04","modified_gmt":"2014-07-09T20:00:04","slug":"kryptos-cipher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/2013\/06\/06\/kryptos-cipher\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kryptos Cipher"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"images-3\"<\/a>The famous artist Pablo Picasso once said, \u201c Sculpture is the art of the intelligence.\u201d\u00a0 These words have taken shape in winding curves and patterns spawned by artistic imagination ever since. \u00a0 \u00a0 Picasso\u2019s\u00a0 words have even found a home at the C.I.A. headquarters.\u00a0 Since 1990, the sculpture Kryptos, <\/i>created by American Artist Jim Sanborn, has been a permanent courtyard fixture at the agency.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What makes this copper structure unique, besides its artistic wave-like shape, is that there are four sections of\u00a0 specifically placed alphabetic characters that form an encrypted code.\u00a0 Cryptanalysts, professional and amateur alike, have tried to decode the sections\u00a0since the structure was created.\u00a0 In fact, they have had some success. \u00a0 The first three sections were solved before the new millennium. \u00a0 The fourth section, on the other hand, is the Achilles\u2019 heel of\u00a0 many code breakers and still very much unsolved.<\/p>\n

Solutions to sections 1-3 (Ciphertext and Plaintext) and the unsolved section 4 are as follows:<\/p>\n

Sec. 1<\/b>: Keywords: Kryptos, Palimpsest<\/p>\n

Ciphertext:<\/strong><\/p>\n

EMUFPHZLRFAXYUSDJKZLDKRNSHGNFIVJ
\nYQTQUXQBQVYUVLLTREVJYQTMKYRDMFD<\/p>\n

Plaintext:<\/strong><\/p>\n

BETWEEN SUBTLE SHADING AND THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT LIES THE NUANCE OF IQLUSION<\/p>\n

Sec. 2<\/b>: Keywords: Kryptos, Abscissa<\/p>\n

Ciphertext:<\/strong><\/p>\n

VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE
\nGGWHKK?DQMCPFQZDQMMIAGPFXHQRLG
\nTIMVMZJANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPJUNGEUNA
\nQZGZLECGGYUXUEENJTBJLBQCRTBJDFHRR
\nYIZETKZEMVDUFKSJHKFWHKUWQLSZFTI
\nHHDDDUVH?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE
\nEVLDKFEZMOQQJLTTUGSYQPFEUNLAVIDX
\nFLGGTEZ?FKZBSFDQVGOGIPUFXHHDRKF
\nFHQNTGPUAECNUVPDJMQCLQUMUNEDFQ
\nELZZVRRGKFFVOEEXBDMVPNFQXEZLGRE
\nDNQFMPNZGLFLPMRJQYALMGNUVPDXVKP
\nDQUMEBEDMHDAFMJGZNUPLGEWJLLAETG<\/p>\n

Plaintext:<\/strong><\/p>\n

IT WAS TOTALLY INVISIBLE HOWS THAT POSSIBLE\u00a0? THEY USED THE EARTHS MAGNETIC FIELD \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 X THE INFORMATION WAS GATHERED AND TRANSMITTED UNDERGRUUND TO AN UNKNOWN LOCATION X DOES LANGLEY KNOW ABOUT THIS\u00a0? THEY SHOULD ITS BURIED OUT THERE SOMEWHERE X WHO KNOWS THE EXACT LOCATION\u00a0? ONLY WW THIS WAS HIS LAST MESSAGE X THIRTY EIGHT DEGREES FIFTY SEVEN MINUTES SIX POINT FIVE SECONDS NORTH SEVENTY SEVEN DEGREES EIGHT MINUTES FORTY FOUR SECONDS WEST X LAYER TWO<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sec. 3<\/b>: Keywords: Kryptos (0362514)<\/p>\n

Ciphertext:<\/strong><\/p>\n

ENDYAHROHNLSRHEOCPTEOIBIDYSHNAIA
\nCHTNREYULDSLLSLLNOHSNOSMRWXMNE
\nTPRNGATHINRARPESLNNELEBLPIIACAE
\nWMTWNDITEENRAHCTENEUDRETNHAEOE
\nTFOLSEDTIWENHAEIOYTEYQHEENCTAYCR
\nEIFBRSPAMHHEWENATAMATEGYEERLB
\nTEEFOASFIOTUETUAEOTOARMAEERTNRTI
\nBSEDDNIAAHTTMSTEWPIEROAGRIEWFEB
\nAECTDDHILCEIHSITEGOEAOSDDRYDLORIT
\nRKLMLEHAGTDHARDPNEOHMGFMFEUHE
\nECDMRIPFEIMEHNLSSTTRTVDOHW?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Plaintext:<\/strong><\/p>\n

SLOWLY DESPARATLY SLOWLY THE REMAINS OF PASSAGE DEBRIS THAT ENCUMBERED THE LOWER PART OF THE DOORWAY WAS REMOVED WITH TREMBLING HANDS I MADE A TINY BREACH IN THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER AND THEN WIDENING THE HOLE A LITTLE I INSERTED THE CANDLE AND PEERED IN THE HOT AIR ESCAPING FROM THE CHAMBER CAUSED THE FLAME TO FLICKER BUT PRESENTLY DETAILS OF THE ROOM WITHIN EMERGED FROM THE MIST X CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING Q\u00a0?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sec. 4<\/b>: Keywords: (Unknown by General Public)<\/p>\n

Ciphertext:<\/strong><\/p>\n

OBKRUOXOGHULBSOLIFBBWFLRVQQPRNGKSSO
\nTWTQSJQSSEKZZWATJKLUDIAWINFBNYP
\nVTTMZFPKWGDKZXTJCDIGKUHUAUEKCAR<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some of the misspelled words\u00a0in the solutions were purposely put there by Sanborn for confusion . \u00a0 Technical detailed solutions are given by the University of California, San Diego, here<\/a>.\u00a0 In the\u00a0UC San Diego solutions the end of the solution to section 2 reads “ID\u00a0BY ROWS” which was corrected by cryptanalysts in 2006 to read correctly “X LAYER TWO”\u00a0 and later confirmed\u00a0by Sanborn. \u00a0 The solution to section 3 is a passage out of the book The Tomb of Tutankhamun<\/i> by Howard Carter.\u00a0 \u00a0 Sanborn admits that this was a book that influenced him from an early age.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a02010 New York Times<\/i> article by John Schwartz entitled \u201cClues to Stubborn Secret in C.I.A.’s Backyard”, Sandborn gives a clue to section 4 by revealing that the characters 64-69, NYPVTT, stand for BERLIN. \u00a0For now Sandborn, former C.I.A. chief, William Webster, and retired\u00a0C.I.A. cryptanalyst Ed Scheidt (consultant to Sanborn on the project), \u00a0are the only\u00a0people who know the encrypted message behind section 4. \u00a0 A search will give you a submission website set up by Sanborn, found here: submit\u00a0<\/a>, were anyone can submit the first 10 characters\u00a0of their findings. \u00a0 Maybe you will submit the solution. \u00a0What do you think it could be?<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The famous artist Pablo Picasso once said, \u201c Sculpture is the art of the intelligence.\u201d\u00a0 These words have taken shape in winding curves and patterns spawned by artistic imagination ever since. \u00a0 \u00a0 Picasso\u2019s\u00a0 words have even found a home … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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