Decrypting Kryptos

angkor writes "Kryptos is a sculpture located on the grounds of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Installed in 1990, its thousands of characters contain encrypted messages, of which three have been solved (so far). There is still a fourth section at the bottom consisting of 97 or 98 characters which remains uncracked."

Comments

Crack?

[theluckyleper]

Dynamite oughtta crack it...

Re:Crack?

[slAckEr Of dOOm]

Typical gamer - "if you don't understand it, blow it up"

Re:Crack?

[theluckyleper]

But a slacker of doom, on the other hand, would spend years working out a way to decipher it? :P

Re:Crack?

[Alby]

You do know where it is, right? I'd like to see you try and get near it with a stick of dynamite!

Re:Crack?

[cgenman]

To be fair to the typical gamer, we've been teaching them that if it's weird and incomprehensible, it should be shot for years. Most games follow this formula. Puzzles are obvious and understandable with very clear lights and meaning, whereas bosses are those big things with funny faces that you shoot.

Things that are not to be shot have to be comprehensible to the players, or else they won't figure out what to do with it.

Re:Crack?

[david.given]

Typical gamer - "if you don't understand it, blow it up"

Now, now. The full saying to the shmup motto is, IIRC:

"If it moves, kill it. If it doesn't move, shoot it until it does. Then kill it."

Unfortunately I can't find a source --- anyone?

Re:Crack?

[Aussie]

That sounds a bit like the "Roadie Rules".

* If its wet, drink it.
* If its green, smoke it.
* If it moves, fuck it.
* If it doesn't move, throw it in the back of the truck.

Re:Crack?

[slpalmer]

> "If it moves, kill it. If it doesn't move, shoot it until it does. Then kill it."

The way I heard it (for old RPG's) was, "If it moves, shoot it. If it doesn't move, shoot it. If it's still there, pick it up."

Re:Crack?

[mt v2.7]

I believe it's, "If It moves, shoot it. It it doesn't move, bomb it till it moves. Then shoot it."

Re:Crack?

[goatan]

The warriors code

"If it moves stab it if it doesn't move push it over and stab it if non of these works it's probably a wall."

Re:Crack?

[armb]

The LARP I used to play in it was "If it moves, hit it until it stops. If it doesn't move, hit it in case it starts."

I'll bet it says...

[mr_burns]

"Stop goofing off. Get back to work"

Re:I'll bet it says...

[mikiN]

Nah, it says:

"Nothing to see here, move along..."

Re:I'll bet it says...

[Scott7477]

"This is CNN!"

Re:I'll bet it says...

[Directrix1]

I solved it, it really says:

"He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the
Holy Grail in the Castle of uuggggggh"

Re:I'll bet it says...

[frog51]

Wasn't that Arrrrggggghhhh?

Anyway, he wouldn't write "Arrrrggggghhhhh", he would just say it.

Maybe he was dictating...

Re:I'll bet it says...

[LifesABeach]

"Buy U.S. Savings Bonds, and Save."

Re:I'll bet it says...

[Directrix1]

I didn't want to mess it up so I found a website with the script on it. But then again they could've written it down wrong.

Oh yeah I saw that once

[Anonymous Coward]

And if you decrypt it all, dark suited men show up at your door and demand a kidney, or worse.

Mercury Rising anyone?

El Saladhead

I have always been curious

[hyu]

What is the methodology behind code cracking? Many codes I figure eventually get solved due to something like the Rosetta Stone, but how is even that point reached?

Re:I have always been curious

[Anonymous Coward]

It depends on the code. Often it involves looking for patterns, knowledge of letter frequencies, a bit of luck, and a while lot of skill. It helps if you know the type of cryptography being used. For example, if there is a known algorithm being used, such as RSA, one can do a brute force attack and test every possible decryption key (a very computationally intensive task, but feasable for small, older keys). Since many codes are based upon "hard math problems" such as RSA whose security is derived from the fact that it is easy to multiply prime numbers, but hard to factor composite numbers into primes, some codes are broken by find fast solutions to hard math problems. This is kind of the idea behind Shor's Quantum Computer algorithm which allows one to quickly factor large integers and thus could, if implemented, completely screw over RSA.

Re:I have always been curious

[The Only Druid]

As a wonderful sci-fi connection, I suggest reading Cryptonomicron, by Neal Stephenson. Besides providing an excellent story (like all his books), it provides an extensive discussion of how code-breaking works, and how historically it evolved.

Re:I have always been curious

[belmolis]

There's a classic book on the history of codes and codebreaking called The Codebreakers, by David Kahn. A revised edition came out recently. There is even a Wikipedia article about him.

Re:I have always been curious

[Nicholas Evans]

Hey, I got that book for christmas!

I opened it up, started reading, found two typos on the first page, and just put it back on my nightstand...

Re:I have always been curious

[iluvcapra]

Ask, and it shall reveal.

Re:I have always been curious

[The Only Druid]

Well that's the attitude! If something's got small, content-unrelated issues, it should be dismissed out of hand!

Re:I have always been curious

[0racle]

My girlfriend took one look at it and saw an image embedded in the way the characters are laid out. She figures that a real message would be too obvious and since its art, the real purpose could simply be to see what is not plainly there.

Maybe the boys at Langley are being too literal at trying to solve it.

Re:I have always been curious

[dr bacardi]

Christmas should be capitalized.

I didn't finish reading the rest of your post, I hope it got better after that.

Re:I have always been curious

[JustOK]

Are you sure they're unintentional typos?

Re:I have always been curious

[Compact Dick]

Christmas should be capitalized.

What makes you think it isn't? ;-)

Re:I have always been curious

[Fyre2012]

Christmas is the most Capitalized holiday of them all...

Re:I have always been curious

[FLEB]

Yet he's on Slashdot...

Re:I have always been curious

[recursiv]

If only those math nerds could think outside the box like your girlfriend. She's such a lateral thinker. It really is amazing that she figured out the whole puzzle in one glance.

Re:I have always been curious

[0racle]

Other then a snide remark, can you really give any good reasons why it actually could not be that?

Re:I have always been curious

[mooncaine]

So you're not going to read it because a printer made an error? You're not dumb enough to blame typos on an author, are you? Why are you still reading slashdot?

Re:I have always been curious

[mooncaine]

It's a great book -- highly recommended. BTW, if you become fascinated with the history of codes and codebreaking, check out David Kahn's _The_Codebreakers_ -- look for the 1990s revision.

Re:I have always been curious

[willwarner]

So what message did she see? And what were the first two?

Re:I have always been curious

[willwarner]

Argh, sorry, already found the first three here. http://elonka.com/kryptos/ So what did your gf find in the "overall shape"? Was it as lengthy and relevant as the other passages? ;)

Re:I have always been curious

[menkhaura]

Others may disagree, but I believe you are entirely right. Someone who writes for a living must know his tool (the language) inside out. You may have heard about Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian romancist (I'm Brazilian). I put one of his books aside after the first two or three pages, because of grammar and spelling errors, too many to be tolerable.

I never touched one of his books again.

Re:I have always been curious

[advb89]

Thawte, a leading provider of SSL Certificates provides a page on the explanation of cryptography with everything from its history to how its done.

Re:I have always been curious

[drxenos]

The Rosetta Stone has nothing to do with code breaking. The Rosetta Stone is a stone with writing on it in two languages (Egyptian and Greek), using three scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek). It is important, because the identical passages in Greek, allowed scholars to understand Egyptian writings.

Re:I have always been curious

[Riddlefox]

Deciphering ancient languages actually has quite a bit in common with code-breaking. Check out Simon Singh's "The Code Book." There's a chapter or two devoted entirely to ancient languages.

Re:I have always been curious

[0racle]

She saw a woman in a wooded area.

Re:I have always been curious

[drxenos]

My point was that there is a difference in intent. A code is intentionally cryptic. The language is not. The information to read it was lost. The Rosetta Stone was not a code-breaking key as the OP suggested. It presented the same story in mutliple languages, one of which could still be read.

Re:I have always been curious

[Riddlefox]

There may be a difference in intent, but in practice, the end result is the same - either with a lost language or an encrypted piece of English, you still have a text that can't be read without knowing something.

The Rosetta Stone wasn't a code-breaking key, but it was a huge crib for the codebreakers/archeologists. Translating it was pretty equivalent to breaking a cipher.

I'm not trying to be antagonistic here :) I don't know if you've read the Code Book (if not, you should - it's a fascinating read), but the chapters on deciphering lost languages was quite interesting to me.

Kryptos?

[MikeXpop]

Superman must be shaking in his boots right about now.

Is there a solution?

[mistersooreams]

Forgive me for being cynical, but how can we be sure that this final piece is actually crackable? I mean, it would be a cruel joke by Jim Sanborn (the structure's creator) to just include a load of junk, but who's to say he didn't? The fact that the other parts have been deciphered suggests that this last part will give way eventually, but maybe that's just to make the final joke even crueler?

I hope I'm wrong because that would make this story a lot less interesting, but I just thought it should be mentioned.

Re:Is there a solution?

[ncurses]

of course not, it's just some random chars generated by the Arethusa cipher, seeded with the string COMSTOCK.

Re:Is there a solution?

[theluckyleper]

Yes, he could've used ye olde book of random numbers, for a laugh.

If so, he'll get what's coming to him in the geek afterlife: An eternity of this.

Re:Is there a solution?

[Anonymous Coward]

Parent should be +5 Obscure Cryptonomicon Reference

Re:Is there a solution?

[iabervon]

It's certainly possible that the area people call "part 4" is actually random junk stuck in to fill up that section of the sculpture (the width of that portion is determined by the first two parts, and the height by the table on the right), and that the final solution to the sculpture uses entirely different elements.

If the end of the text is part 4, there's probably at least a part 5, because there's a bunch of other stuff in the installation not yet used in any solutions (including, for example, a compass that points the wrong way).

I wouldn't be surprised, from the known decryptions, if you had to stand with a candle at a certain point and notices the letters cut in the shadow cast by the sculpture at particular points. It seems to me like the bottom rows would be most likely as the letters for this, so it may be that some of the letters are important, but that there's no way to solve it by just looking at a transcript.

Re:Is there a solution?

[uncoveror]

Sanborn is probably having a laugh at the pros trying to decrypt what is really only jibberish. It is just like the joke Magic Eye poster that doesn't have a hidden image.

Re:Is there a solution?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does it seem that that is becoming the new goatse?

Re:Is there a solution?

[EvilSporkMan]

Actually, the characters you're referring to were NOT generated by Arethusa, they were generated by a Riemann zeta function; this was the whole point of that part of Cryptonomicon. Parent should be right where he is, +3 for Effort.

Re:Is there a solution?

[Anonymous Coward]

You said "by a Riemann zeta function?" No sir, there is only ONE Riemann zeta function and it is THE Riemann Zeta Function.

However, the Riemann Zeta Function is part of a family of functions called Dirichlet L-series.

Re:Is there a solution?

[Calroth]

OK, here we go. From the FAQ:

Q: Are you sure that Kryptos part 4 is solvable?

Yes. Both Jim Sanborn and Ed Scheidt have repeated over and over that it's solvable. Sanborn has also been quoted in interviews as saying he was surprised that it hadn't been solved yet. And when Elonka Dunin, co-moderator of the Kryptos group, asked him flat out in mid-2003 whether or not part 4 was solvable, his answer was: "Yes. It ain't easy, but it's solvable!"

Re:Is there a solution?

[X-wes]

I have no clue what you're talking about...

If I get modded up for this comment, can you at least give a more thorough description than what has been posted?

Re:Is there a solution?

[EvilSporkMan]

Well, I was just going by the wording Stephenson used. From a search on Amazon.com:

3. on Page 880: "... found that the Arethusa intercepts did not represent coded messages at all.They were simply the output of a particular mathematical function, a Riemann zeta function, which has many uses-one being that it is used in some cryptosystems as a random number generator. He proved ..."

97 or 98?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you can't tell how many characters it has, no wonder it's so hard to crack.

Re:97 or 98?

[game kid]

Someone please mod that up, although I personally hope said character's Lindsay Lohan and neither of those two horrors.

Re:97 or 98?

[Zocalo]

From the FAQ:

All of the characters on the ciphertext side of Kryptos have been solved, except for 97 characters at the very bottom. There is also a question mark between parts 3 and 4. Some say the question mark is part of part 3 (since it ends with the question, "Can you see anything q"). However, it's possible that the question mark is part of part 4.

So, there you go. Having a question mark at the beginning is a little odd, unless it's a hint that you are meant to read it backwards like some of the other Kryptos puzzles.

Re:97 or 98?

[FuturePastNow]

Having a question mark at the beginning is a little odd

Maybe it's in Spanish...

Keys...

[Antony-Kyre]

Wouldn't the key to cracking it lie in like a key inside of the code? That somewhere in the code, it explains how to decode itself. Also, by looking at the artwork itself, it looks like two semi-circles.

Re:Keys...

[Antony-Kyre]

One idea, and I'm sure others have thought of it, is to connect the two semi-circles then draw lines. How the lines are drawn, don't know. We could try common letters, vowels, sentences, alphabets, etc.

I think I got it..

[The Journalist]

There's a "W", then an "e", a space, "a", "r", "e"...

"We are"..."

There's more! "s", "o", "r", "r", "y"

"We are sorry"...We knew this!

"f", "p", "r" - "We are sorry for" - "t", "h", "e", - "We are sorry for the what!?!

"i", "n", "c", "o", "n", "v", "e", - almost got it - "n", "i", "e", "n", "c" "e".

"We are sorry for the inconvenience"? You bastard!!

*Apologies to DNA, who orignially used this idea as God's final message to the univers.

Re:I think I got it..

[fsterman]

Actually, that brings me a deep sense of closure and inner peace for some reason.

Re:I think I got it..

[fembots]

"f", "p", "r" - "We are sorry for"

I sincerely hope this Kyrptos thing doesn't have a typo, otherwise it'll take another 2000 years to crack.

Re:I think I got it..

[The Journalist]

Aye. I became aware of the typo after I submitted it...For some odd reason the preview function fails to work.

Re:I think I got it..

[tukkayoot]

Well, FTA:

The encrypted sections include spelling errors, which Sanborn said were intentional, possibly to throw off sleuths, and misaligned characters set higher on a line of text than characters around them.

So who knows. :)

Re:I think I got it..

[The Journalist]

Blasted joke assassins...

Re:I think I got it..

[MikeXpop]

Hmm, that's funny. I got...

Be sure to drink your ovaltine

Re:I think I got it..

[iocat]

His Cyrillic projector sculpture was *full* of typos. It was actually solved by some dude who had no way of translating the typoed-up and spaceless Cyrillic for months.

damn

[2MuchC0ffeeMan]

where that's kid from mercury rising when you need him.

Re:damn

[WoBIX]

Try looking under Kryptos :)

I got it !!

[Dolphinzilla]

Be Sure to drink your Ovaltine.

Re:I got it !!

[fizban]

Ovaltine? A crummy commercial?

Re:I got it !!

[John3]

Talking Ralphie (in case the joke was too obscure for some)

Re:I got it !!

[Eric604]

Why do they call it ovaltine? The can is round. The cup is round. Heck, even the dish is round, if you happen to use one.

Good thing the CIA isn't about code breaking

[alhaz]

The article says that the NSA failed as well, but, honestly, the NSA wouldn't say if they had.

They probably have, long ago, and just don't tell anybody. They're probably chuckling about it right now.

Re:Good thing the CIA isn't about code breaking

[Spiked_Three]

Actually I believe this monument was in way intended to be a warning/example to NSA that they were not as smart as they think they are. Unfortunately, post retirement, NSA has had (and taken) plenty of oppertunities to 'get back' for that.
There is/was a lot of tension between the CIA and NSA - in some cases entire projects exists to create crypto codes the other agency can't break. Your tax dollars at work.

Re:Good thing the CIA isn't about code breaking

[glassjaw rocks]

Damn. Mod parent up. I think he hit the nail on the head.

E*A*T*Y*O*U*R*O*V*A*L*T*I*N*E

[Anonymous Coward]

stupid decoder ring

Re:E*A*T*Y*O*U*R*O*V*A*L*T*I*N*E

[-kertrats-]

how would one eat ovaltine?

Re:Is this news? or a wikipedia entry?

[ambienceman]

From what I can tell, Slashdot is a place for "news for nerds, stuff that matters". Why does everything have to be related to Linux? Is a nerd necessarily running a Linux box, encoding his music in .OGG, worshipping Linus in the morning, etc..?

And from what I can tell, cryptography isn't exactly common sense. It can be classified as a science, or branch of mathematics. Those both sound like nerdy subjects to me.

The solution:

[IO ERROR]

It's a confession that Elvis isn't dead; that he's been working for the CIA all this time, in the disguise of an Elvis impersonator.

Re:The solution:

[Doctor Crumb]

...fighting mummies in texas.

Re:The solution:

[Directrix1]

Mummies that suck the souls out of elderly people in a nursing home through their assholes.

Curious Images...

[kenthorvath]

I saw this article from Wired yesterday and looked at the image that was provided. They said it was given to them by Elonka Dunin. The thing is, if you look very closesly at the letters in an image window under magnification, there are intermittent red pixels occurring on certain letters on what should be a black and white only image. Could this be another code?

Here is the image

Re:Curious Images...

[LiquidCoooled]

more likely render aliasing errors.

after all, its a gif image with incorrect extension.

Re:Curious Images...

[nsasch]

It appears to have shades of red in the colored pixels. Would the rendering also explain that? Unless of course the shades are an optical illusion...(I would check this but I am short on time for something right now.)

Re:Curious Images...

[Xyrus]

Uh...that's JPEG artifacting.

~X~

Re:Curious Images...

[fbjon]

Well, I guess you need a special monitor to decrypt those red pixels, because I can't see any. There are however 17 unique colors in the image. Do you mean red, or with a red hue?

Re:Curious Images...

[Feztaa]

Funny, I didn't think GIF's had JPEG artifacting.

Re:Curious Images...

[akac]

That is strange. Firefox says its a GIF, but the filename says its clearly a jpg.

Re:Curious Images...

[Elonka]

Heh. While it is indeed true that I have hidden other codes and puzzles around my webpages, this isn't one of them. ;) As part of the most recent article, the folks at Wired simply made a graphic of my Kryptos transcript page. Any unusual pixels from there, occurred on their end.

Elonka :)

Re:Curious Images...

[Feztaa]

Yeah, it's a misnamed GIF. I downloaded it, 'file' says it's a GIF, gimp won't open it until it's renamed to .gif.

Re:Curious Images...

[Iamnoone]

Elonka, thanks for all your hard work on this

I have two theories, both probably wrong but I want to put them out there just in case.

First are the three compass needles pointing to something - the compass there and two of his other works. Also do all the compasses' North (0 degrees ) point to true North, if not is that a clue also?

Second, what if the question "Can your see anything" is related to the morse code - Could he literally mean "Can you see anything between X and Q". Maybe that alludes the morse code and there is a clue between the morse code letters X and Q?

Re:Is this news? or a wikipedia entry?

[servoled]

Technically, I think its "News for nerds, Stuff that was posted on Fark.com yesterday", but others may disagree.

I have seen a pattern in the information...

[Linker3000]

There seems to be a pattern emerging in Slashdot posts - it can be outlined by the following pseudo-code:

Program GoSlash;
CDate = Today - 1;
..For I = 1 to NumArticles(Fark(CDate));
....If SubjectScore((FarkArticle[I,CDate]) >= MildlyTechnical then
....begin
......NewArticle = Rehash(FarkArticle[I,CDate]);
......SubmitToSlash (NewArticle);
....end;
..next I;
end.

>

Re:I have seen a pattern in the information...

[BrianWCarver]

Actually the program you've discovered is run every other day. On the other days they use:

Program GoSlash;
CDate = Today - 1;
..For I = 1 to NumArticles(BoingBoing(CDate));
....If SubjectScore((BoingBoingArticle[I,CDate]) >= MildlyTechnical then
....begin
......NewArticle = Rehash(BoingBoingArticle[I,CDate]);
......SubmitT oSlash (NewArticle);
....end;
..next I;
end.

It's a trap!

[Weaselmancer]

The people who solved the first 3 are currently in jail for DCMA violations. ;^)

Re:It's a trap!

[Directrix1]

Mod this man to the top!!!

Re:It's a trap!

[Forbman]

No, they're actually enjoying the Good Life on a year-long world cruise. Haven't you seen the commercial on TV before "Hockey Night USA" on TechTV?

We just need someone to bust into the CIA to find the cells where these three have since become mummified husks, chained to their cell beds...

Another option...

[krypt0s]

Someone could've just asked me. I'm not THAT complicated.

Fark

[juaja]

Ok, slashdot has officially become a mirror for www.fark.com, this was posted yesterday. Congrats!

Re:Fark

[MavEtJu]

Not everybody reads all news websites, not everything is a race, you don't need to be first in everything.

Edwin

Re:Fark

[Mr. Byaninch]

Then why didn't you submit it to Slashdot when you read it yesterday? The stories that get listed here don't just fall off a tree onto the editors' (or whatever they're called) laps. People have to submit them. Don't bitch about Slashdot being late, help them keep up. As I understand it, that's the way it's intended to work.

metaphorically solved section 4

[BierGuzzl]

Weird. This guy apparently metaphorically solved section 4. But he got an email from Jim saying "Dear John, this is not the way" Did he cheat? :)

http://members.aol.com/scirealm/KryptosPart4.htm l

Re:metaphorically solved section 4

[brouski]

I went and looked at this link.

My head promptly exploded.

Re:metaphorically solved section 4

[rootofevil]

youre one of those people that believes in bible codes, arent you?

Re:metaphorically solved section 4

[gad_zuki!]

Christ, is there a "nutters" web template out there? Every site dealing with bible codes, aliens, newagey psuedo-science, etc have the same starry (or psychedelic) background, fonts that are way too big and colorful for proper reading, etc. I guess its all the best. Its like a big sign screaming "This guy is nuts!"

I swear, I was half expecting a "See you at Time Cube Con '05" at the bottom the page.

Re:metaphorically solved section 4

[Anonymous Coward]

In frontpage if you type certain things the paper clip pops up:

"Hi! It seems like you are nuts! Would you like to use the Nutter's Template?"

Re:metaphorically solved section 4

[Art Tatum]

God, I love TimeCube. Any time I feel depressed, I go read a couple of paragraphs and laugh my ass off. "Cubeless academia spews deceit and plunders natural resources." Obviously a Kerry voter...

I am not a psycologist

[tod_miller]

But reading the wired interview gave me the impression of the two mice pontificating about the answer...

I thikn that perhaps he (as an artist) has 'encrypted something' in a manner of:

what I want encrypted -> process -> result = somethign completely different, is this encryption?

I.e. perhaps he has done this type of encryption:

"apple" = "orange" which is impossible to crack... looking at the points where he makes too many clues, and builds something out of it, seems too vain, now I think he is worried about contradicting himself...

Perhaps he never wants it cracked, perhaps there is no solution...

Another reader idea of reading backwars, and the idea of CANDLE seem good, but again read wired interview and tell me it doesn't seem like he is a little too guarded... and 'deliberate mistakes' come on, you expect me to believe that! :-)

Well... lets give it a go...

Here be treasure...

[ozbird]

Sanborn may be referring to something he buried on the CIA grounds, though he's not saying. The decrypted text mentions a burial and gives latitude and longitude coordinates (38 57 6.5 N, 77 8 44 W), which Sanborn said referred to "locations of the agency."

GlobeXplorer shows some parkland adjacent to a collection of buildings (presumably CIA HQ), but no "X".
It's probably only a cache of Iraqi WMD, or an alien spacecraft... Move along, nothing to see here.

Re:Here be treasure...

[Stiletto]

You must not have put in the correct coordinates. In decimal degrees:

-77.1455555555555555 lon
38.95180555555555555 lat

which is a courtyard right smack in the middle of CIA headquarters.

Re:Here be treasure...

[Pathwalker]

Looks to me to be on the edge of a courtyard.

Zooming out a bit, and overlaying the 1984 topographic map on top of the 1988 B/W USGS photo, I get this view which looks like that point used to be in a field next to the building, but when it was expanded (sometime between 1984 and 1988) that location was enclosed in a court yard.

The nearest benchmark is HV4826 which is reported as being destroyed in 1984 - probably during the expansion of the building, so I would say it happened early in that timerange.

There's something very odd about that benchmark record. Check out what it says the underground mark was.

Kryptos

[Anonymous Coward]

EMUFPHZLRFAXYUSDJKZLDKRNSHGNFIVJ
BETWEENSUBTLESHADINGANDTHEABSENC
YQTQUXQBQVYUVLLTREVJYQTMKYRDMFD
EOFLIGHTLIESTHENUANCEOFIQLUSION
VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE
ITWASTOTALLYINVISIBLEHOWSTHATPO
GGWHKK?DQMCPFQZDQMMIAGPFXHQRLG
SSIBLE?THEYUSEDTHEEARTHSMAGNET
TIMVMZJANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPJUNGEUNA
ICFIELDTHEINFORMATIONWASGATHER
QZGZLECGYUXUEENJTBJLBQCRTBJDFHRR
EDANDTRANSMITTEDUNDERGRUUNDTOANU
YIZETKZEMVDUFKSJHKFWHKUWQLSZFTI
NKNOWNLOCATIONDOESLANGLEYKNOWA
HHDDDUVH?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE
BOUTTHIS?THEYSHOULDITSBURIEDOUT
EVLDKFEZMOQQJLTTUGSYQPFEUNLAVIDX
THERESOMEWHERWHOKNOWSTHEEXACTL
FLGGTEZ?FKZBSFDQVGOGIPUFXHHDRKF
OCATION?ONLYWWTHISWASHISLASTMES
FHQNTGPUAECNUVPDJMQCLQUMUNEDFQ
SAGETHIRTYEIGHTDEGREESFIFTYSE
ELZZVRRGKFFVOEEXBDMVPNFQXEZLGRE
VENMINUTESSIXPOINTFIVESECONDSNO
DNQFMPNZGLFLPMRJQYALMGNUVPDXVKP
RTHSEVENTYSEVENDEGREESEIGHTMINU
DQUMEBEDMHDAFMJGZNUPLGEWJLLAETG
TESFORTYFOURSECONDSWESTIDBYROWS

"Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of iqlusion.
It was totally invisible Hows that possible? They used the Earths magnetic field
The information was gathered and transmitted undergruund to an unknown location
Does Langley know about this? They should Its buried out there somewhere
Who knows the exact location? Only WW This was his last message
Thirty eight degrees fifty seven minutes six point five seconds north
Seventy seven degrees eight minutes forty four seconds west ID by rows"

BTW Trying to bypass the Lameness filter was harder than cracking this puzzle. *hint* *hint* Slashdot fix your goddamn code!!

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Re:Ahh noooO!

[sbrown123]

That is true. This appears to be covered under the DMCA. Unencrypting that last part of a proprietary work will wind you up in jail. Leave it alone for gods sake!!!

Some news for this 'news'

[tod_miller]

If you read HERE You will see on the 21st of Jan 2005 that Sanborn mentioned that his method is not the way (which might mean it is!!)

Update 21-Jan-2005: Finally got an email from Sanborn "Dear John, This is not the way, Jim"

http://members.aol.com/SciRealm/KryptosPart4.htm l

Oooh, I just figured it out using my calculator

[3770]

A priest, a doctor, and an engineer are playing a round of golf. They get behind a pair that is playing amazingly slow. After some time they realize that these two men are blind. "What a sad way to spend one's life," said the priest. "I will say a prayer for them." "I have a good friend that is an eye surgeon," said the doctor, "maybe I could get them some help." The engineer thought for a second, "Why don't these guys play at night?"

I don't get it though.

Re:Is this news? or a wikipedia entry?

[Ajmuller]

Yeah, Basically.

And so?

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

Well, I think the same could be said with k5 and a lot of other sites as well. You see, Slashdot is a digest, with the exception of interviews and book reviews, I don't think they publish original material at all...

Similar to a Google entrance exam... [n/t]

[nuntius]

FWIW, [n/t] meant there was "no text". Silly /.

To Serve Man

[gelfling]

My God it's a cookbook.

Re:To Serve Man

[reymyster]

In case anyone doesn't get this reference (it's great, I use it all the time), it's from one of the better episodes of The Twilight Zone http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone#To_ Serve_Man

Plagiarism

[Osty]

From the Slashdot summary:

angkor writes "Kryptos is a sculpture located on the grounds of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Installed in 1990, its thousands of characters contain encrypted messages, of which three have been solved (so far). There is still a fourth section at the bottom consisting of 97 or 98 characters which remains uncracked."

And from the actual page:

Kryptos is a sculpture located on the grounds of CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Installed in 1990, its thousands of characters contain encrypted messages, of which three have been solved (so far). There is still a fourth section at the bottom consisting of 97 or 98 characters which remains uncracked.

So, unless angkor is the author of the page over at elonka.com, he's plagiarised the article for his summary. Now, I understand that this can be a difficult call to make, since the article is clearly cited. However, the language of the summary ("angkor writes ...") and lack of explicit citation ("the article says ...") leads one to believe that angkor is writing an original summary of the submitted article, which is clearly not the case.

Sadly, this is not the first time this has ever happened on Slashdot (in fact, it happens in nearly every posted article). Come on, people. If you're going to submit a story, either summarize the article in your own words or attribute your summary text to the article. And editors, pull your thumbs out of your asses and actually edit your site once in a while. In a case like this, it's pretty damned obvious that the article summary is just part of the first paragraph of TFA, and so rather than attributing the summary to the article submitter ("angkor writes ..."), use other language that makes clear the quoting ("angkor quotes from the article ...").

Re:Plagiarism

[frakir]

Not to mention "its thousands of characters" are actually just below 900...

Re:Plagiarism

[sparkz]

It probably comes under "Fair Use", but a very good point all the same - the whole F/OSS movement is very strongly based on correct attribution, and just as the code has to be developed carefully, it wouldn't hurt if the most prominent website about F/OSS took just a little care about proper attribution.
Better still, (no, please, don't laugh, just hear me out...) Slashdot should be setting an example - raising the bar of properly accredited journalism.
Okay, you can laugh now. I know you've been holding it in.

Re:Plagiarism

[pjt33]

Given the dodgy anaphor of the second sentence (which looks more like a cataphor), it's distressing that anyone would plagiarise it directly.

/. ings

[McBeer]

It is interesting to note that Elonka Dunin (one of the most prominent people involved with the cracking of Kryptos and the Cyrillic Projector) put a slashdotting in her timeline of important Kryptos events.

Just to be picky.

[Eevee]

It points in the right direction, towards the strongest magnetic field in the area. That just happens to not be magnetic north.

How To Solve The Last Section of the Puzzle

[strelitsa]

Send Jim Sanborn to Abu Ghraib.

(Or threaten to make him Michael Moore's pizza boy).

Dupe

[morningstar8]

This story is a dupe... The original was posted 5 1/2 years ago. (!) Here's the original story.

Re:Is this news? or a wikipedia entry?

[tod_miller]

well, I hope it isn't "news for people who don't actually read parent posts". I was merely stating there was no NEWS, not no GEEK stuff.

it was just a link to a page, with no news.

Like saying, planets are like, geeky and sciency, so FRONT PAGE, here is jupiter... erm.. yeah, still there, thank goodness...

next day, here is a link to pluto, have anice one... see not really news.

I'll bet it says...

[ricochet81]

ALL YOUR BASE...

Part 4: cracked!

[downlo]

All your base are belong to us!

Re:Part 4: cracked!

[lampajoo]

that's what I was going to say, but you only got a 1, so I'm glad I didn't...

Ed Scheidt

[Spiked_Three]

I worked for the man that did the cryptography for a couple of years after his CIA retirement. We had some insteresting conversations about abstract concepts, as well as some border line spook stuff he couldn't give details of but painted a very funny picture none the less.
What suprises me is how the 'artist' gets all the attention for this piece, and not the crypto guy. His name is not even mentioned in the posted URL.

Re:Ed Scheidt

[Spiked_Three]

well the first URL doesn't mention him. The second URL (Wired) article does. Although I would have to say their editted conversation does not sound anything like him.

thnick

[Deanalator]

Elonka gave a really good presentation on Kryptos at defcon 12 last summer. To even get clerence to the yard where the sculputre was, she offered to give a talk to the CIA on stenography right after 9/11.

It was also really fun to hear about all the cloak and dagger style hints that people from within the agency were giving her.

Re:thnick (arg)

[Deanalator]

ok, next time I promise to use the preview button
clearance / steganography / anything else stupid

Translation In Full

[new500]

. . .

George Smiley,
Asst. Attorney to
Director, National Security Agency
Chief, Central Security Service
(NSA Information Assurance Department)
Date As Decrypt Key

Re: Unauthorized Use and Disclosure of Intellectual Property

VIA FEDERAL EXPRESS

Dear Cryptanalyst,

I serve as legal counsel to the NSA Information Assurance Department, owner of extensive intellectual property rights and trademarks pertaining to the use, distribution and deployment of intelligence worldwide. In fact you may have heard of us. To make you fully understand our concern and the reach of our recognised brands throughout the world, let me put it this way, we do what RIAA only dreams they could.

It has recently come to our attention that John Doe, in personam, i.e. youself, the only possible recipient of this message has sought to circumvent our intentional copy protection of classified communications, thereby exposing our proprietary materials, name, marks, trade dress, intellectual property and good will to possible illegal misuses including but not limited to commercial exploitation or karma whoring on Slashdot.

By reading this message you have violated federal laws, including (among others) the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Economic Espionage Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Wiretap Act, the Legal Lobbyist Retirement Protection Act, and the Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act, as well as State of Wisconsin Natalie Portman 3D Redistribution Act (HP Amendment). (We're the NSA, we know about that one too.)

Therefore we require that you immediately CEASE AND DESIST from any and all activities causing, leading to or which might be construed to result in the actual or potential dissemination of the proprietary information and excellent legal drafting contained herin. Under the terms of the DMCA, inter alia, we inform you that henceforth your knowledge of this text will be deemed to be a Circumvention Device, and as such we are required to place restrictions on your person. Kindly call me on the number below and await instructions. Do not move, do not try to escape, do not pass go and do not collect $200 (that's all we have left after spending $20Bln on the Great Monument to ourselves you see before you.)

Failure to comply with these requests may expose you or your organization to an action for injunctive relief or monetary damages, and any other relief permitted under state and federal law, including court costs and attorneys' fees. You may also wish to consider and examine the potential criminal consequences, under theories of aiding and abetting and conspiracy to denigrate the agencies elite avant-garde sculptural skills.

If you fail to comply with these requests we will have to invoke recourse under the Homeland Bitchslap Act of 2001.

Sincerely,
George "W" Smiley.

P.S. Son, you should have just applied through personnel. Way back when I was a junior we dreamed up this sucker distract the Russians who'd waste all their time drinking vodka and analysing it just to get one over us. Don't worry, I'll tell your Ma it was friendly fire.

Re:no wonder its so tough to crack

[thegrassyknowl]

Why would the CIA allow something that would be easy to crack on their property?!

Because it says "all of your earth are belong to US!"

And I'm not going to clarify whether there is a "the" in that sentence.

NOT Fair Use

[new500]

. . .

In the UK at least, an author has stautory provision against false attribution. Fair use itself does not usually take consideration of the effect or intent. No new work was created in which a fair use rule can be applied. The effect is redistribution in a database, for which there is a ton of case law saying the incident is actionable.

Although to go into the grey area here would take too long, the person who "writes" is attributing material to themselves.

Ah, but it's Slashdot who writes "writes". Seriously, if that were my article, even if it is 5 years old, I'd be pretty pissed off at the mere lack of simple tact. A big publisher might see a need to defend their rights even apparently tenuous ones. There is a need for such commercial defences, even if it has all gone mad with the RIAA etc.

So I wonder when we'll see CoyboyNeal writes: "Today we got sued by Reuters, for the full story, please see our forthcoming 404 error

It's stupid to tread on toes. Even more stupid to encourage people to help you to tread on big companies toes.

Oh well, not that anything i said matters or anything . . .

Bravo

[Weaselmancer]

Outstanding reference. Really cracked me up.

Re:Ahh noooO!

[ESqVIP]

I thought if we decyphered it the universe would instantly disappear, and get replaced by another one with an even more incomprehensible code...

I spent an hour staring at it...

[PrintError]

Then realized I have no chance of solving it, and went back to eating my sandwich.

One amusing thing to note though, is that someone had thrown rubber duckies in the little pool next to it!

Let me help.

[Geek of Tech]

No use in trying to decypher it. The aliens didn't put it in English when they gave it to the CIA...

It's obviously written in the standard galactic alphabet...

Gotta get the FBI in there too

[Art Tatum]

Don't forget the FBI. They also war with the CIA and, most likely, the NSA too. Damn inter-agency rivalries. But it has proved to be useful on occasion. Operation Solo probably succeeded because the FBI managed to shut the nosy CIA guys out for the duration.

Been working on this awhile :)

[222]

I got into the project about a year ago, and I can tell you that we (Yahoo Kryptos group) have some brilliant people trying just about everything imaginable.
I cant tell you how much time i've spent in the middle of the night arranging the letters in x,y grids... and even more bizzare.
I reconstructed the statue in 3D Studio Max so that i could tinker with the idea of folding the statue on itself, etc. One of the vigenere keywords in an earlier section hints at the reuse of the message, so its just an angle i've been tinkering with.
http://www.storm-seeker.com/kryptos.jpg
If anyone would like a copy of the max files to tinker with, shoot me an email at storPIZZAmseeker@gmail.com minus food :)

Re:Is this news? or a wikipedia entry?

[DarkMantle]

Dupe? no

However, this article has been posted on Wired since Friday. So I thought it was a dupe at first, the realized that It's just that I had RTFA already.

Re:3 compasses, 3 sculptures do they point somewhe

[Iamnoone]

Damn, I meant to submit that logged in to see any responses...

Last phrase desiphered!!!

[rzkb07]

it says Sucker

Does it really take this long...

[don.pratt]

to do ROT13?

Re:Ok, be honest

[wraith0x29a]

Sad but true; at first glance I thought it had something to do with Superman. Then I guessed KDE apps. Would never have thought of the KIA, er, CIA.

I have found a remarkable solution to this puzzle

[j_cavera]

but unfortunately the margin of this post is too small to contain it.

- Jim

Cryptography discussion with Elonka on BRR #78

[StankDawg]

Elonka co-hosted this episode about 2 or 3 weeks ago and we discussed cryptography in general and touched on the specific projects that Elonka has been involved in. If you want to hear her speak, download episode 78 at the archive site.