KRYPTOS
INTRODUCTION
located
on the grounds of the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley,
Virginia. Since its dedication on November 3, 1990, there has
been much speculation about the meaning of the
four encrypted messages
it bears. Of the four messages, the first three have been solved,
while the fourth message remains as one of the most famous unsolved
codes in the world. The sculpture continues to be of
interest to cryptoanalysts,
both amateur and professional, who are attempting to decipher the
fourth section. The artist has so far given two clues to this
section.
The
main part of the sculpture is located in the northwest corner of the
New Headquarters Building courtyard, outside of the Agency's
cafeteria.
The
name Kryptos comes
from the ancient Greek word
for "hidden", and the theme of the sculpture is
"Intelligence Gathering".
The
most prominent feature is a large vertical S-shaped copper screen
resembling a scroll or a piece of paper emerging from a computer
printer, half of which consists of encrypted text.
The
characters are all found within the 26 letters of the Latin
alphabet, along with question marks, and are cut out of the
copper plates.
The
main sculpture contains four separate enigmatic messages, three of
which have been deciphered. In addition to the main part of the
sculpture, Jim
Sanborn also
placed other pieces of art at the CIA grounds, such as several large
granite slabs with sandwiched copper sheets outside the entrance to
the New Headquarters Building. Several Morse
code messages are found on these copper sheets, and one of
the stone slabs has an engraving of a compass
rose pointing to a lodestone.
Other
elements of Sanborn's installation include a landscaped garden area,
a fish pond with opposing wooden benches, a reflecting
pool, and other pieces of stone including a triangle shaped black
stone slab.
The
cost of the sculpture in 1988 was 250,000 US dollar worth $501,000 in
2016 US dollars.
ENCRYPTED
MESSAGES
The
cipher text on the left-hand side of the sculpture (as seen from the
courtyard) of the main sculpture contains 869 characters in total:
865 letters and 4 question marks.
In
April 2006, however, Sanborn released information stating that a
letter was omitted from this side of Kryptos "for
aesthetic reasons, to keep the sculpture visually balanced".
There
are also three misspelled words in the plaintext of the deciphered
first three parts, which Sanborn has said was intentional, and three
letters (YAR) near the beginning of the bottom half of the left side
are the only characters on the sculpture in superscript.
The
right-hand side of the sculpture comprises a keyed Veneer encryption
tableau, consisting of 867 letters.
One
of the lines of the Veneer tableau has an extra character (L), which
Sanborn has indicated was accidental.
Sanborn
worked with a retiring CIA employee named Ed Scheidt, Chairman
of the CIA Office of Communications, to come up with the
cryptographic systems used on the sculpture.
Sanborn
has revealed that the sculpture contains a riddle within a riddle,
which will be solvable only after the four encrypted passages have
been deciphered.
He
has given conflicting information about the sculpture's answer,
saying at one time that he gave the complete solution to the then-CIA
director William Webster during the dedication ceremony;
but later, he also said that he had not given Webster the entire
solution. He did, however, confirm that within the part of the
plaintext of the second message which reads "Who knows the exact
location? Only WW.", "WW" was intended to refer to
William Webster.
Sanborn
also confirmed that should he die before the entire sculpture becomes
deciphered, there will be someone able to confirm the solution.
SOLVERS
The
first person to announce publicly that he had solved the first three
sections was Jim Gillogly, a computer
scientist from southern California, who deciphered
these sections using a computer, and revealed his solutions in 1999.
After
Gillogly's announcement, the CIA revealed that their analyst David
Stein also had solved the same sections in 1998 using pencil and
paper techniques, although at the time of his solution the
information was only disseminated within the intelligence
community and no public announcement was made until July 1999.
The NSA also
claimed that some of their employees had solved the same three parts,
but would not reveal names or dates until March 2000, when it was
learned that an NSA team led by Ken Miller, along with Dennis
McDaniels and two other unnamed individuals, had solved parts 1–3
in late 1992.
In
2013, in response to a Freedom
of Information Act request by Elonka Dunin, the NSA
released documents which show the NSA became involved in attempts to
solve the Kryptos puzzle
in 1992, following a challenge by Bill Studeman, then Deputy
Director of the CIA. The documents show that by June 1993, a small
group of NSA cryptoanalysts had succeeded in solving the first three
parts of the sculpture.
The
above attempts to solve Kryptos found that part two ended with
WESTIDBYROWS, but in 2005, Nicole Friedrich, a computer
scientist from Vancouver, Canada,
determined that another possible plaintext was: WESTPLAYERTWO.
In
2006, Sanborn announced that he had made an error in part 2, and
confirmed that the last part of the plaintext was WESTXLAYERTWO, and
not WESTIDBYROWS.
SOLUTIONS
The
following are the solutions of parts 1–3 of the sculpture.
Misspellings
present in the text are included verbatim.
Kryptos
sections one ("K1") and two ("K2")'s ciphers are
polyalphabetic substitution ciphers using a Vigenère tableau
similar to the tableau on the right-hand side of the sculpture.
Part
four ("K4") uses a so far unknown method.
Solution
of passage 1
BETWEEN
SUBTLE SHADING AND THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT LIES THE NUANCE OF IQLUSION
Solution
of passage 2
IT
WAS TOTALLY INVISIBLE HOWS THAT POSSIBLE? THEY USED THE EARTHS
MAGNETIC FIELD X THE INFORMATION WAS GATHERED AND TRANSMITTED
UNDERGRUUND TO AN UNKNOWN LOCATION X DOES LANGLEY KNOW ABOUT THIS?
THEY SHOULD ITS BURIED OUT THERE SOMEWHERE X WHO KNOWS THE EXACT
LOCATION? 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
On
April 19, 2006, Sanborn contacted an online community dedicated to
the Kryptos puzzle to inform them that the accepted solution to part
2 was incorrect. He said that he made an error in the sculpture by
omitting an "X" used to separate sentences, for aesthetic
reasons, and that the deciphered text that ended "...FOUR
SECONDS WEST ID BY ROWS" should actually be "...FOUR
SECONDS WEST X LAYER TWO”. Note: The coordinates mentioned in
the plaintext: 38°57′6.5″N 77°8′44″W
for
a point that is approximately 150 feet southeast of the sculpture.
Solution
of passage 3
Method:
Transposition
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?
This
is a paraphrased quotation from Howard
Carter's account
of the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamen on
November 26, 1922, as described in his 1923 book The
Tomb of Tutankhamen.
The question with which it ends is asked by Lord
Carnarvon,
to
which Carter (in the book) famously replied "wonderful things".
In the November 26, 1922 field notes, however, his reply was, "Yes,
it is wonderful”.
Solution
of passage 4
Part
4 has so far not been publicly solved.
CLUES
GIVEN
When
commenting in 2006 about his error in section 2, Sanborn said that
the answers to the first three sections contain clues to the fourth
section. In November 2010, Sanborn released a clue, publicly stating
that "NYPVTT", the 64th-69th letters in part four, become
"BERLIN" after decryption.
Sanborn
gave The
New York Times another
clue in November 2014: the letters "MZFPK", the 70th-74th
letters in part four, become "CLOCK" after decryption.
This may be a direct reference to the Berlin
Clock.
Sanborn
further stated that in order to solve section 4, "You'd better
delve into that particular clock," but added, "There are
several really interesting clocks in Berlin”.
Sanborn
worked with a retiring CIA employee named Ed Scheidt, Chairman
of the CIA Office of Communications, to come up with the
cryptographic systems used on the sculpture.
Sanborn
has revealed that the sculpture contains a riddle within a riddle,
which will be solvable only after the four encrypted passages have
been deciphered.
He
has given conflicting information about the sculpture's answer,
saying at one time that he gave the complete solution to the then-CIA
director William Webster during the dedication ceremony;
but later, he also said that he had not given Webster the entire
solution. He did, however, confirm that within the part of the
plaintext of the second message which reads "Who knows the exact
location? Only WW.", "WW" was intended to refer to
William Webster.
Sanborn
also confirmed that should he die before the entire sculpture becomes
deciphered, there will be someone able to confirm the solution.
SOLVERS
The
first person to announce publicly that he had solved the first three
sections was Jim Gillogly, a computer
scientist from southern California, who deciphered
these sections using a computer, and revealed his solutions in 1999.
After
Gillogly's announcement, the CIA revealed that their analyst David
Stein also had solved the same sections in 1998 using pencil and
paper techniques, although at the time of his solution the
information was only disseminated within the intelligence
community and no public announcement was made until July 1999.
The NSA also
claimed that some of their employees had solved the same three parts,
but would not reveal names or dates until March 2000, when it was
learned that an NSA team led by Ken Miller, along with Dennis
McDaniels and two other unnamed individuals, had solved parts 1–3
in late 1992.
In
2013, in response to a Freedom
of Information Act request by Elonka Dunin, the NSA
released documents which show the NSA became involved in attempts to
solve the Kryptos puzzle
in 1992, following a challenge by Bill Studeman, then Deputy
Director of the CIA. The documents show that by June 1993, a small
group of NSA cryptoanalysts had succeeded in solving the first three
parts of the sculpture.
The
above attempts to solve Kryptos found that part two ended with
WESTIDBYROWS, but in 2005, Nicole Friedrich, a computer
scientist from Vancouver, Canada,
determined that another possible plaintext was: WESTPLAYERTWO.
In
2006, Sanborn announced that he had made an error in part 2, and
confirmed that the last part of the plaintext was WESTXLAYERTWO, and
not WESTIDBYROWS.
SOLUTIONS
The
following are the solutions of parts 1–3 of the sculpture.
Misspellings
present in the text are included verbatim.
Kryptos
sections one ("K1") and two ("K2")'s ciphers are
polyalphabetic substitution ciphers using a Vigenère tableau
similar to the tableau on the right-hand side of the sculpture.
Part
four ("K4") uses a so far unknown method.
Solution
of passage 1
BETWEEN
SUBTLE SHADING AND THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT LIES THE NUANCE OF IQLUSION
Solution
of passage 2
IT
WAS TOTALLY INVISIBLE HOWS THAT POSSIBLE? THEY USED THE EARTHS
MAGNETIC FIELD X THE INFORMATION WAS GATHERED AND TRANSMITTED
UNDERGRUUND TO AN UNKNOWN LOCATION X DOES LANGLEY KNOW ABOUT THIS?
THEY SHOULD ITS BURIED OUT THERE SOMEWHERE X WHO KNOWS THE EXACT
LOCATION? 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
On
April 19, 2006, Sanborn contacted an online community dedicated to
the Kryptos puzzle to inform them that the accepted solution to part
2 was incorrect. He said that he made an error in the sculpture by
omitting an "X" used to separate sentences, for aesthetic
reasons, and that the deciphered text that ended "...FOUR
SECONDS WEST ID BY ROWS" should actually be "...FOUR
SECONDS WEST X LAYER TWO”. Note: The coordinates mentioned in
the plaintext: 38°57′6.5″N 77°8′44″W
for
a point that is approximately 150 feet southeast of the sculpture.
Solution
of passage 3
Method:
Transposition
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?
This
is a paraphrased quotation from Howard
Carter's account
of the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamen on
November 26, 1922, as described in his 1923 book The
Tomb of Tutankhamen.
The question with which it ends is asked by Lord
Carnarvon,
to
which Carter (in the book) famously replied "wonderful things".
In the November 26, 1922 field notes, however, his reply was, "Yes,
it is wonderful”.
Solution
of passage 4
Part
4 has so far not been publicly solved.
CLUES
GIVEN
When
commenting in 2006 about his error in section 2, Sanborn said that
the answers to the first three sections contain clues to the fourth
section. In November 2010, Sanborn released a clue, publicly stating
that "NYPVTT", the 64th-69th letters in part four, become
"BERLIN" after decryption.
Sanborn
gave The
New York Times another
clue in November 2014: the letters "MZFPK", the 70th-74th
letters in part four, become "CLOCK" after decryption.
This may be a direct reference to the Berlin
Clock.
Sanborn
further stated that in order to solve section 4, "You'd better
delve into that particular clock," but added, "There are
several really interesting clocks in Berlin”.
