Ahh, a new year of Kryptos…

Krypto fans,

I haven’t been getting anywhere with Kryptos and unless there is a miraculous discovery in 2013, I doubt we’ll figure it out.  The problem I think lies in intel.  We can beat our heads against the wall all we like but we need to find an alternate strategy.  Since code-breaking is traditionally in the realm of the NSA, we should take Sanborn’s intentions as directions and attempt to solve this as the CIA would.  Let’s try and crack the fourth part of Kryptos by trying to get around it.

For inspiration, I humbly proffer the story of Moshe Rubin (artist rendering below) and the Chaocipher:

I’m not sure what direction I’m hoping to take but one will be to approach it from an art angle and try and weasel info from the CIA about art they have in the New Building.  My hope is to find some pieces that have some bearing on our efforts that will give us some new piece of information that may lead to unraveling Kryptos.

My advice for the new year is to try and dig and scrounge up anything and everything you can to find something new and previously unknown about Kryptos.  Good luck to us all!

-Kryptosfan

So James Sanborn created Kryptos…  in our modern, connected world – should we try and see what new there is to learn on the creator?  It’s been done before.

I know the context is different but there is a lot more information online than folks usually know.  I’m not advocating stalking the guy, think of it as more building the best biography possible.

I’m not sure what there is to find but maybe it will help.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

-Kryptosfan

There are a lot of people involved in aspects of Kryptos aside from the obvious of Jim Sanborn.  What about trying to contact these other guys?

Let’s see…

Edward Scheidt, then retiring Chairman of the CIA Cryptographic Center, now founder of TecSec

William Webster, then DCI, now Chairman of the Homeland Security Advisory Council

Jim Gillogly, then 1st civilian to break K1-3, now writer and editor

David Stein, then CIA analyst, now ?

Ken Miller, then NSA employee, now ?

Dennis McDaniels, then NSA employee, now ?

How about James Sanborn’s assistants during the Kryptos creation-installation period?

I think his girlfriend is off-limits unless they ever break up for some reason.  Although it might be interesting to formulate some basic questions they could answer together just to show their perspective as a couple with a secret that draws national interest.

Anyone else who might be responsive to a carefully worded letter of Kryptos-related questions?

-Kryptosfan

Well Kryptos fans, it’s not really a power outage though, more of a learning curve.

I’m not but I am

It’s more that I need context.  I need good questions.  I need better questions.  I need really, really good questions.  I need questions so good that these guys won’t be able to resist answering.  More research, better development, better better better!

Unfortunately it’s taking me awhile.  I’m trying to read books, watch movies, learn history, anything to get caught up and know what exactly to ask.

I’m pretty sure I’m only going to have one shot at this.  Not to be dramatic but to even have a chance of getting people I’ve never met who are simultaneously hounded by the media and yet inclined to secrecy to talk, well, these will have to be questions they’ll want the chance to answer.

By the way, anyone have anything they are just dying to ask about Kryptos?

-Kryptosfan

Happy Valentine’s Day Kryptos Fans!

-Kryptosfan

Here is a list of questions about Kryptos I would love the chance to ask and have answered.

I’m making no pretenses of being a journalist and I keep getting dogged by the feeling that I’m not quite asking the right questions.  Here they are in no particular order and not assigned to a specific person yet.  I’m including some of mine and some of other folks.  I would definitely invite anyone to suggest more questions and I’ll add them.  UPDATE:  If you want your name or nom de plume added let me know.

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What music were you and your assistants listening to as you worked?

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What were you thinking about on the trip to the Southwest to pick up the petrified log: last minute changes, different ideas, imagining how it would be received, worried it would be cracked too soon, worried it would stand unsolved too long?

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In retrospect, what would you have done differently?

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What had you wanted to do but couldn’t due to resources and restrictions?

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Has anyone who has contacted you come close on even part of a solution?

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What is the significance of the Morse code?

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The CIA’s online description of the project mentions “at the entrance to the New Headquarters building, the sculpture begins with two red granite and copperplate constructions which flank the walkway from the parking deck. These stones appear as pages jutting from the earth with copperplate ‘between the pages’ on which there are International Morse code and ancient ciphers.”  What are the ancient ciphers?

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Especially since it required so much work to carve the letters, the message must have been of enough importance to be worth the effort.  Could you explain the intent/message you were trying to convey in the 1st three sections?

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Did you solve Kryptos by hand or with an NSA computer?

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Do you think the 4th part has already been solved and what reason could the CIA have for not disclosing that fact?

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Mr. Scheidt, on reading about a description of the agency analyst’s deciphering of parts 1-3, you replied, “That’s not how I meant for you to solve it.”  Could you elaborate?

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Mr Sanborn, to our knowledge, the Kryptos piece as a whole is: the Morse code sheets, the sundial, the pyramidal rock, the reflecting pools, the grass, the granite slabs in the courtyard and then of course the tree-sheet-pool centerpiece.  What, if anything, else was also part of the piece?

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Is Kryptos a stand-alone piece or does it incorporate preexisting elements of the New Headquarters Building or even the old building?

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Who were your assistants during your work on Kryptos?  Have they moved on with their own artwork and how was it influenced by Kryptos?

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How did Agency history impact the message and presentation of Kryptos?

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How would you then and now characterize your stance on the CIA (+/-)?

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There are rumors of an as yet uncovered portion of Kryptos, would say that is more less likely than an openly hidden message?

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What do you consider the most likely encryption method used for K4?

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Why do you think K4 remains officially unsolved?

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Sanborn references “changes” he made after his meetings with Scheidt, what do you think those changes were?

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Given the notoriety of other agency figures, how do you feel about your fame attached more to the sculpture and less to your public service?

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What was it like being in a relationship with your girlfriend with this secret K4 message?  What was her response prior to and after you divulged?

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Would you consider selling the answer and if so what would be enough to convince you to give it up?

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In light of Chaocipher revelations, will the answer to the 4th part be immediately revealed upon your death or simply available for confirmation upon a successful decryption?

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Do we really need the KryptosClue site or confirmation to know when we have the decrypted text?

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Did you learn much history during the planning stages or was it confined to cryptology/intelligence gathering?

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Would you say that the resiliency of the 4th part is through poor intelligence gathering or poor cryptology and why?

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Do you wish they’d let you install a light-source?

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Do you feel the copperplate would have been better suited for the NSA?

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Did you develop Kryptos based on factual explanations of the CIA’s history/actions or more on public perceptions?

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What are your political and/or economic leanings?

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Did you ever intend or anticipate public interest in Kryptos or was it meant solely for the CIA?  Why?

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Would you encourage or discourage amateur attempts on K4?  Why?

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Would you rather the CIA or a regular person solve K4 and why?

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How do you feel about media portrayals of the CIA?

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Did you receive any praise or perk or benefit related to your solution of the 1st three parts?

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If a book about Kryptos was ever written, how would you contribute to it?

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What inspired you to use a large metal screen with letters punched through?

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How did you differentiate between the separately encoded sections?

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How did your parents’ careers affect your work?

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Are you a fan of history/history buff?  If so, what is your area or period of interest?

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What languages are you fluent in?

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After the Church and Pike committees, Watergate, Iran-Contras, etc. what effect did that have on the genesis of Kryptos?

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Did you have to sign security waivers before beginning to work on Kryptos?  Did you have to get vetted?

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Why do you think all of the hobbyists have failed to solve K4?

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Did you go to Vietnam?  If so, how did that color your views on the CIA?

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Who are your role models and why?

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Do you still try to solve K4 or have you given up?

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Do you feel that the NYPVTT=BERLIN break is sufficient to solve K4?

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Do you think K4 is a home-made cipher system or a combination of traditional methods?

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Would it be better if K4 remained unsolved to continue interesting people in cryptology and puzzle games?

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Do you do the cryptoquotes in the newspaper?

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Have any foreign cryptanalysts attempted K4 and with what results?

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In your opinion, which cipher systems can be ruled out for K4?

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After 20 years, how does the agency view Kryptos?  Interesting landmark, eyesore, embarrassment, neutrally, etc…

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What advice would you give someone to file a fruitful FOIA?

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What questions would you ask James Sanborn?

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What questions would you ask Ed Scheidt?

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What questions would you ask the hobbyists?

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How do you interpret the 1st 3 sections in relation to the CIA?

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What clues or tips have you found in Kryptos that are meant to help solve the 4th part?

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How many ciphering techniques or “layers” do you think were used in K4?

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How do you feel doing public installations for government buildings has molded the direction your art has gone in?

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What are your hobbies?

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What other famous ciphers have you tried to solve?

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What questions would a journalist ask about Kryptos?

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Will you be disappointed when the 4th part is solved?

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What kind of sculpture would you make for the NSA?

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Would you have enjoyed working for the CIA?

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If not art, what would you have ended up doing for a living?

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Did you ever visit Berlin?  Before or after the wall came down?

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What countries have you been to?

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What are you currently working on?

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How did you first hear of Kryptos?

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When did you become interested in codes and ciphers?

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Given the agency’s history of neglecting analysis in favor of consensus, supporting DoD agendas or providing support for Executive policy; is it possible that the 4th part won’t be solved simply because management is in the habit of ignoring the analysts?

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Palimpsest and abscissa carry connotations of teaching/classrooms, is there any credence to this association and what other context could they have?

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Were you trying to teach a lesson in cryptology, intelligence gathering or send a message?

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Should CIA personnel be able to solve Kryptos with pencil and paper?

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In hindsight, were there explicit clues that, if understood properly at the time, would have greatly facilitated a solution?

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Does it remind you of the Berlin wall?

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Were you surprised that Sanborn used Vigenere on the 2 of the sections of copperplate?

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Is there an algorithm that can tease apart transposition ciphers that avoids the pitfalls of straight anagramming?

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Did the CIA ever approach you for direct help?

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Considering its pervasive influence, could you describe any tendency towards gnosticism in the intelligence community?

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How do you feel Kryptos relates to historical cryptology esp. WWII era work with traffic analysis, large amounts of intercepts, breaks and repetitive patterns?

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Is the 4th part of Kryptos enciphered by a cipher machine?

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Given the potency of the copperplate, do the other elements of Kryptos seem underwhelming or unnecessary?

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With a lot of interest being solution-focused, do we lose sight of the artistry of the Kryptos elements?  Are they significant to the solution?

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What reference materials would you recommend for amateur cryptologists, especially in reference to Kryptos?

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What is it about Egypt that captured your attention and imagination?

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If hieroglyphics are more visual code than language or cipher, how did that influence Kryptos?

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Is it digetal interpretatu (commonly accepted) or digetal interpretatit (less commonly accepted)?

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Without giving too much away, are the E’s in the Morse code aesthetic placeholders or part of the message?

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As an auditory code, what was the rationale behind using Morse code as a visual code?

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Is Kryptos more of a political or a social piece and why?

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In the 1992 movie Sneakers, which character would you be and why?

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In a post-apocalyptic, zero-sum world where the CIA buildings and grounds are reduced to charred rubble and only the copperplate screen of Kryptos remains, could the survivors decipher it and follow the directions to learn the full message?  Would it remain relevant then?

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As we progressed from analog to machine ciphers and now to digetal, do you think Kryptos may actually become progressively harder to solve as cryptologists become less acquainted with the cipher systems in use except as historical precedents?

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If the cryptologist guessed at the 2 systems used in K4, would it then become vulnerable to a brute force attack?

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In light of SALT, START and detente, is Kryptos a Cold War relic or prophetic harbinger of piece?

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Is your Kryptos narrative more Ian Fleming or JJ Abrams?

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Would you consider Kryptos a cipher lecture, a puzzle game or a message?

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How often are you approached about Kryptos?

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Do you think Kryptos is influenced more by your personal history or the history of the CIA?

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Did you know much about the history of the CIA before Kryptos?  Did you learn much before or after?

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Was Kryptos originally meant to be a cylinder similar to a Jefferson wheel but was then unrolled as a symbolic wall?

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Can Kryptos be seen as a symbolic metaphor of how 2 people or nations can see each other through a wall of code?

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What did you know or learn about Sanborn through working on Kryptos with him?

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What did you know or learn about Scheidt through working on Kryptos with him?

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What can you infer about the creator(s) of Kryptos through it?

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Did you ever have a baffled/projection night light as a kid?

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Was Kryptos inspired by shadows cast by public lighting in DC at night?

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Was Kryptos inspired by the shielded hurricane lamps found in older spy or adventure novels?

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Did you ever protest the war?

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Did you ever live on a commune?

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Were you active in the Civil Rights efforts?

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Why wear a beard?

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Day vs. night, seen vs. unseen, do you see Kryptos as a progenitor of your large format projection work?  What is the appeal to you of art that is different or visible/unseen at different times and seasons?

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Who was the fiction author who was supposed to help?

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Was the story influenced more by the CIA, Sanborn’s background or yours?

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Why did you promise Jim to keep secret on the 4th part?  Was the rest fair game?

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You and Kim in the 2005 WIRED interview talk about a solution to the text once it’s decoded.  Out of K1-3 there doesn’t seem to be a mysterious message or puzzle.  Are we missing something or does that become clear with the K4 text?

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Do you think the intended audience would understand the secret message in the already deciphered sections?  Have they indicated this?  Can folks outside the CIA learn enough to figure out the allusions i.e. what meeting for cake means?

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Is the 4th part 97 or 98 letters?

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Can the 4th part be solved by hand?

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There are repeated references to the analyst studying it at lunch, is that a significant reference?

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Were there supposed to be hints?

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Did you change it to make it harder as a challenge and less as a lesson?

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Is it weird working on Department of Defense contracts after everything you’ve done career-wise or is it a little like coming home?

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Would the Directorate of Operations folks be able to get it or is it an analysis inside joke?

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Is there a SigInt aspect to Kryptos?

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Do you consider Kryptos to be the copperplate sheet or the Morse Code and reflection pools as well?

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What can you tell us about the Morse code?

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The CIA website mention of the ancient ciphers is not mentioned anywhere else and there is no online evidence for them, is that an agency error or are those outside of Langley unaware of some portions of Kryptos?

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What do you think of the new Bond movie?

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Can we see with our eyes all of Kryptos or should we borrow some equipment if we ever visit the CIA?

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How does Kryptos symbolize or embody intelligence gathering?

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Why is the 4th part so secretive and significant in comparison to the rest?

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How do you feel about human intelligence gathering vs. electronic or signals intelligence?

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Coming from the pre-1975 days, was there any message being sent by focusing Kryptos on intelligence gathering rather than covert action?

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Why did William Webster call you “The Deep Throat of Codes”?

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How do you feel your overseas duty colored your work on Kryptos?

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Can you describe your non-classified work for the CIA?

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In light of the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, what do you see as the way forward for the CIA?

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What were your impressions of WW?

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There’s some confusion generated by the 2005 WIRED interview.  Usually the keywords are changed and maybe the order of cryptographic systems but it sounds like you changed the actual systems and invented a few.  Is this the case?

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Do you ever check in on us?

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Who do you think is most likely to solve K4?

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Was it an issue in your relationship if he told you the answer?

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Do your friends/strangers ask you about it?

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How do you feel the message in K4 and Kryptos altogether  will resonate in light of current events?

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Have you been approached with any offers of money or otherwise to reveal the answer?

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Did you know if his plan was to bury or hide anything on agency grounds?

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Are the latitude and longitude a location or do they simply help fix one’s perspective?

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To quote William K. Harvey, am I asking the wrong questions?

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How important to you was it to use those specific materials?

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Are there any specific points in agency history that we should be considering?

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Who was your favorite DCI?

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Science fiction or fantasy?

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Favorite movie(s)?

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Any books you’d recommend?

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Any movies you’d recommend?

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Would you say Kryptos is a Cold War piece or a post-Cold War piece?

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Should we worry that a neophyte cryptologist customized and/or changed the original cipher systems?  Could this be a case of an amateur doing a home-made cipher on a very small text and then sitting back as no one can solve it?

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Scheidt makes reference to the plaintext having more meaning, i.e. cake = meet @ 1pm on Friday, is there anything in the deciphered sections or Morse code that might constitute a hidden message in plain sight, innuendon, hint, etc.?

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Is the actual code/cipher breaking secondary to the actual process of understanding what Kryptos really means?

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Why make the 1st three parts so “easy” if the last part was going to be so “hard”?

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Any advice for people who “get so close” after a complicated multi-step decryption effort who are convinced that they just need more steps or help to solve it?

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Any words of wisdom for folks who find arbitrary, small bits of apparent plain-text as a byproduct of their decryption efforts?  Should they consider these breaks or coincidence?

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Should we use the scientific method for decryption or is there a better way?

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Should we give up on traditional or historical cryptosystems and look more for the artistic/intuitive ones that might be present?

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Is K4 enciphered via software?

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How do you feel about declassification and the FOIA?

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Is there anyone we should be talking to about Kryptos that we may not be aware of?

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Would it be worthwhile to recreate Kryptos outside of the CIA?

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How do you respond to the questions some have of whether intelligence has made a substantial contribution over the past 66 years?  What is the worth in knowing a secret?

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Do you believe that state to state interactions are still the most potent relationships or have things changed into economy to economy interactions or otherwise?

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With military intelligence, overt and recognized paramilitary capabilities of state armed forces do plus the other intelligence agencies like the NSA, do we need the CIA still?

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Was communism more of a personal threat to the affluential elitism of Ivy Leaguers during the Cold War than the general populace?

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Did you pursue Krypto-style artwork and governmental influence artwork as unfinished concepts or because despite the commission you didn’t actually profit from Kryptos and subconsciously wanted something more to actually come from your efforts?

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Do intelligence workers suffer more or less from Baader-Meinhof phenomenons?

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How did your SigInt work affect your music tastes?

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Could you describe your SigInt work?

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What type of SigInt did you specialize in?

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How would you define intelligence?

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What are your impressions of the contributions to intelligence of rendition and torture?

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What are your opinions on the visualization aid of “the intelligence cycle”?

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How do you feel about social sciences theoretical frameworks being applied to intelligence studies?

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With the subject matter, context, and unfortunately avid fans; how has your life changed?  Do you feel a certain amount of insecurity and paranoia?

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Do you have a hard time trusting others?

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Since intelligence is so often fragmentary, is Kryptos the same or is it given as a whole piece in parts?

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With the trend of moving away from covert operations and human intelligence towards computer science and algorithmic work, is the attempt to develop Intelligence Studies as a respected line of study an attempt to re-instil the liberal arts influences back into intelligence work?

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So those are the questions I’ve got so far, I’ll probably just update my list here as I think of new ones.  Feel free to make any suggestions in the comments section.

-Kryptosfan

Well, Kryptos Letters for better or worse…

Here’s the:

Letter to Jim Sanborn about Kryptos

Letter to Ed Scheidt about Kryptos

Letter to the early solvers about Kryptos

Please take a second to look them over if there are any of you with the inclination.  I’d hate to botch the effort to gather new details about Kryptos simply because of poor writing style or grammatical errors.

Also, if anyone has recommendations on the best method of contacting these people that would also be greatly appreciated.  Otherwise I’ll just have to wing it.

Thanks!

-Kryptosfan

It was hard to find an exclamation mark to indicate how excited I am to get a response but I’ll just leave this here.

Here’s the link to his responses:

Jim Gillogly is awesome

And now I’m off to look into duress ciphers!

-Kryptosfan

I’m sure I’m not the only fan of Kryptos who has tried to track someone down unsuccessfully.

So if anyone has any contact information for:

• Ed Scheidt

• David Stein

• Ken Miller

• Dennis McDaniels

• The other 2 members of the NSA team

• Anyone else who might be relevant to Kryptos

Please let me know via email so that I can reach them with Kryptos questions. (kryptosatfandotcom)

Thank you!

-Kryptosfan

Attached are an experiment on the K4 section of Kryptos, I figured if you liked my concept you could put it onto your blog as another attempt at solving it, this may lead to others viewing it and either seeing something I missed, or realizing it’s a dead-end and not wasting time on it, both of which are beneficial to the puzzle as a whole

Also, as I have pre-nulled the section, others can easily just punch the letters in and apply different deciphering methods to it, to try to find anything

I have attached the images in their intended order, if you choose not to upload them to your blog that’s fine, it was a small attempt at finding something, anything, but I personally cannot go further with it, as I am just a novice at this as of now

-John

I always think sharing ideas and efforts should be encouraged.  Maybe someone out there will derive some inspiration from John’s efforts.  Please give it some consideration and give him some comments.

Thanks for sending this in John!

If anyone else would like their work put out there in a public forum please feel free to email a description or pictures of your efforts to kryptosatfandotcom.

-Kryptosfan

There was an email miscommunication but here are Jim Sanborn’s answers to questions about Kryptos.

• In retrospect, what would you have done differently? nothing

• What had you wanted to do but couldn’t due to resources and restrictions?  nothing

• What is the significance of the Morse code? It’s primitive

• The CIA’s online description of the project mentions, “At the entrance to the New Headquarters building, the sculpture begins with two red granite and copperplate constructions which flank the walkway from the parking deck. These stones appear as pages jutting from the earth with copperplate ‘between the pages’ on which there are International Morse code and ancient ciphers.”  What are the ancient ciphers?  Ask Dan Brown silly.

• Especially since it required so much work to carve the letters, the message must have been of enough importance to be worth the effort.  Could you explain the intent/message you were trying to convey in the 1st three sections?  The joy of discovery

• Mr. Sanborn, to our knowledge, the Kryptos piece as a whole is: the Morse code sheets, the sundial, the pyramidal rock, the reflecting pools, the grass, the granite slabs in the courtyard and then of course the tree-sheet-pool centerpiece.  What, if anything, else was also part of the piece?
• You tell me

• Is Kryptos a stand-alone piece or does it incorporate preexisting elements of the New Headquarters Building or even the old building?
• Yes

• Who were your assistants during your work on Kryptos?  Have they moved on with their own artwork and how did Kryptos influence it?  I had many student assistants, ?

• How did Agency history impact the message and presentation of Kryptos?
• Trees were on the site now they are not

• Would you say that the resiliency of the 4th part is through poor intelligence gathering or poor cryptology and why?   Skill

• Do you wish they’d let you install a light-source?  no

• Do you feel the copperplate would have been better suited for the NSA?
• most humans in 1988 knew nothing of the NSA

• Did you ever intend or anticipate public interest in Kryptos or was it meant solely for the CIA?  Why? Its a heavy site, put a lot into it because I assumed it would rise to the level it has.

• Would you encourage or discourage amateur attempts on K4?  Why?
• Would you rather the CIA or a regular person solve K4 and why?  it’s for everyone

• How do you feel about media portrayals of the CIA?
• no opinion

• How did your parents’ careers affect your work?
• significantly

• Are you a fan of history/history buff?  If so, what is your area or period of interest?
• Paleo Americans, Khmer/Angkor

• What languages are you fluent in?
• english

• After the Church and Pike committees, Watergate, Iran-Contras, etc. what effect did that have on the genesis of Kryptos?, the project would not have happened without them for many reasons

• Why do you think all of the hobbyists have failed to solve K4?
• everyone has failed

• Did you go to Vietnam?  If so, how did that color your views on the CIA? no

• Who are your role models and why?, too old to have role models

• Palimpsest and abscissa carry connotations of teaching/classrooms, is there any credence to this association and what other context could they have?  I liked the words and their definitions

• Were you trying to teach a lesson in cryptology, intelligence gathering or send a message?
• yes

• Is the 4th part of Kryptos enciphered by a cipher machine/software?  ??

• With a lot of interest being solution-focused, do we lose sight of the artistry of the Kryptos elements?  Are they significant to the solution?  hope not

• What reference materials would you recommend for amateur cryptologists, especially in reference to Kryptos?  I am not a cryptographer

• Is it digetal interpretatu (commonly accepted) or digetal interpretatit (less commonly accepted)?

??

• Without giving too much away, are the E’s in the Morse code aesthetic placeholders or part of the message? , I can’t or won’t remember

• As an auditory code, what was the rationale behind using Morse code as a visual code?
• it is primitive

• Is Kryptos more of a political or a social piece and why?  both, I like content.

• In the 1992 movie Sneakers, which character would you be and why?
• do not remember the movie

• In a post-apocalyptic, zero-sum world where the CIA buildings and grounds are reduced to charred rubble and only the copperplate screens of Kryptos remains, could the survivors decipher it and follow the directions to learn the full message?  Would it remain relevant then? ask chase brandon

• As we progressed from analog to machine ciphers and now to digetal, do you think Kryptos may actually become progressively harder to solve as cryptologists become less acquainted with the cipher systems in use except as historical precedents?. as with all science we are too soon to forget

• Is your Kryptos narrative more Ian Fleming or JJ Abrams?, neither

• Would you consider Kryptos a cipher lecture, a puzzle game or a message?  art

• Was Kryptos originally meant to be a cylinder (like the Cyrillic projector) similar to a Jefferson wheel but was then unrolled as a symbolic wall?   no it preceded those ideas

• Did you ever have a baffled/projection night-light as a kid?
•  No

• Was Kryptos inspired by shadows cast by public lighting in DC at night? ??

• Was Kryptos inspired by the shielded hurricane lamps found in older spy or adventure novels? no

• Day vs. night, seen vs. unseen, do you see Kryptos as a progenitor of your large format projection work?  What is the appeal to you of art that is different or visible/unseen at different times and seasons?    no, art must maintain interest

• Who was the fiction author who was supposed to help? David Cornwell

• You and Kim in the 2005 WIRED interview talk about a solution to the text once it’s decoded.   riddle within a riddle

•   Out of K1-3 there doesn’t seem to be a mysterious message or puzzle.  Are we missing something or does that become clear with the K4 text? we’ll see

• Is the 4th part 97 or 98 letters? try both

• Do you consider Kryptos to be the copperplate sheet or the Morse code and reflection pools as well?  yes

• What can you tell us about the Morse code? read it

• Can we see with our eyes all of Kryptos or should we borrow some equipment if we ever visit the CIA?   Yes borrow a time machine

• How does Kryptos symbolize or embody intelligence gathering?, it’s not that simple

• Why is the 4th part so secretive and significant in comparison to the rest? it’s just harder

• There’s some confusion generated by the 2005 WIRED interview.  Usually the keywords are changed and maybe the order of cryptographic systems but it sounds like you changed the actual systems and invented a few.  Is this the case? probably

• Who do you think is most likely to solve K4?
• a Vulcan

• How do you feel the message in K4 and Kryptos altogether will resonate in light of current events? it is timeless

• Have you been approached with any offers of money or otherwise to reveal the answer?
  • Could we fundraise enough to bribe you?    No offers yet. Sure, raise $100k and I will give another one word clue, old age is expensive.

• Is the actual code/cipher breaking secondary to the actual process of understanding what Kryptos really means? both are important

• Any advice for people who “get so close” after a complicated multi-step decryption effort who are convinced that they just need more steps or help to solve it? you get it all or nothing at all

• Any words of wisdom for folks who find arbitrary, small bits of apparent plain text as a byproduct of their decryption efforts?  Should they consider these breaks or coincidence? they are crazy

• Should we give up on traditional or historical cryptosystems and look more for the artistic/intuitive ones that might be present? all’s fair

• To quote William K. Harvey, are we asking the wrong questions? never

-Kryptosfan

Scheidt implies an interest in duress ciphers that is relevant to Kryptos

Ok, so at first I didn’t know what duress ciphers were.  I thought they were literally a type of cipher that had two different messages with two different keywords or something.  That is NOT a duress cipher.  A duress cipher is one that has been sent under conditions of duress that contains pre-agreed upon signifiers of duress.

Merriam-Webster on duress:

So Sanborn says it’s not what the misspellings are but where they are?  Assuming my previous mention of duress ciphers is important, let’s take a look at the misspellings…

“One of these things is not like the other ones!”

Ok, so fancy new-fangled math aside and complicated proofs shelved.  Where and what are they?

Ok, geez, chill out!  There’s one in K1 towards the end, there’s one in K2 about 1/4 of the way in and there’s one word with two at the beginning of K3.  Location schmocation.  Or is that true?  We’ve got one in each section, located in the end – middle – beginning of each section.  So what?  Well, each part has one word that is misspelled.  There are not a bunch of misspelled words to throw off decryption, it’s a specific signifier about the nature of each “transmitted” message.  So, K3 is different because DESPARATLY does not = DESPERATELY with one misspelling, there are two: A for E and an E left off.  Where’s the missing Mr. E?  Ask cowpattybill for I know not.  You could also argue that K1 is off because in K2 and K3, the misspelling is towards the end of the word and not at the beginning.  This is a valid point but my gut says K3 is still a better candidate.

So location in the plaintext doesn’t seem consistent but gauging from 2 out of 3, it is supposed to be one letter only.  I guess we’ll know which one is a lie once we have the K4 plaintext.

My prediction is that K4 has a one letter misspelling.

-Kryptosfan

p.s.  I left out the Morse code because while it has misspellings, I think they serve a different purpose or are a result of an intentional manipulation of text such as anagramming or transposition.

The question is whether the third part of Kryptos is trustworthy.

My proposition is that it is not.  I suspect we will find a misspelling in K4 but that it will be one letter only and that will or should cast some doubt upon K3.  I don’t know how or what that will mean but if we’re to believe that Ed had an interest in duress ciphers and that even when we have solved K4 we will not be completely done with Kryptos then one of the sections must be fake or untrustworthy.  We will only really know after the plaintext of K4 has been revealed but I have my suspicions.

Now could it mean?  I think it could suggest somehow the visual encoding matrices that Jim Sanborn references.  The unique encoding method he developed.  The stego that was employed.  The over-arching message if you will.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see but is there anything we can elucidate today without the text of K4?  What would it mean for any of the 3 sections we know if one of them was shown to be misleading?  How would it change what we know or think about Kryptos if one of the transmissions was a lie?

-Kryptosfan

Sanborn references individualistic visual encoding systems in Kryptos. (ref: WIRED article, 2005)

Optical illusions don’t have to be that far off.  I think there is some physical relationship between the letters carved into the copperplate and what you can see on the other side.  Go check them out at http://www.voynich.net/Kryptos/.  Keep in mind that Sanborn completely designed and executed that courtyard.  It’s the trees, the landscaping, the orientation.  He had complete control of where the copperplate would be, what direction it would face and what would be visible through it.  I think there’s some place to stand to look through or time of year, time of day to see some shadow that will make it clear.  You have to look through, look past the cipher to see what message he’s trying to send us.  I think that’s the stego, that’s the visual encoding they both kept talking about.  Think about Cyrillic Projector and MEDUSA…

I also think you just have to be there to see it.  No picture will let us passively guess.

-Kryptosfan

The keywords in Kryptos…

For a long time, I agonized over how we were supposed to know them and what they could mean.  I spent a lot of time considering different definitions, etc. etc.  I’m not sure I ever talked about all of them in one place.

In the end, I realized that they mean exactly what they are.

Palimpsest: K1 and K2 are two different Vigeneres overlayed.  One is literally poking out from under the other or a remnant, etc.

Abscissa:  Abscissa is the X coordinate and x is obviously repeated a bunch in the pseudoradio transmission of K2 plus there are literally x and y coordinates.

K3.  Elonka described how the transposition looked like stairs.  You could also argue they looked like the edges of a pyramid.  Or, failing that, whatever keyword was used in K3 likely references pyramids or Egypt.

K4.  We know at least one will be the word Kryptos.  The other one will literally mean masked or hidden.

It’s funny because you can’t guess or understand them until after the decryption but then it seems so common sense.  This will hopefully limit the possible keywords to guess for K4.  In the end, the explanation for keyword choice was the simplest.

Good luck!

-Kryptosfan

Has anyone looking into Kryptos found a satisfactory explanation for the P and C usage in this picture?

The origin is supposedly the NOVA video with Sanborn.

It’s been circulating for awhile, I just never followed up on it… did anyone else?

-Kryptosfan

Any Kryptos fans think it’s strange that they included the question mark?

I’m sure someone would have fact-checked that but could be wrong.  It’s not numbered or anything and we need it for the last bit of K3.  Reading this I would say that K4 is 98 characters long.  But if NYPVTT=BERLIN and not “the 64th-69th letters are BERLIN” then there is no transposition and it means that it doesn’t matter if the ? mark is included or not.  Might actually be better if it wasn’t because I think I remember it not moving around very well with K3 for some reason, might have to backtrack to confirm that though…

-Kryptosfan

Kryptos fans will come across the phrase “p.s., It’s as simple as A-B-C” which is an anagram of Palimpsest and Abscissa.  The question we must ask ourselves is whether this is a clever observation/manipulation or an actual clue.

It would seem the correct phrase is:  “As simple as, do re mi”

Okay, so, is it a clue?

That’s going to be opinion.  There’s simply no proof that it is or not at this point in time.  It’s certainly a clever play on words since some of the ciphers use the vigenere tableau and because it gets down to the basic letters of the alphabet when decrypting Kryptos.  I would posit that clever does not equal true.  I would further present the case that without further context, no one anagram of a group of letters is more likely than the rest to be the one true message.

In the interest of trying to convince people that you can actually anagram other messages out of the same letters, here are my submissions.  Keep in mind that I’m not the best anagrammer out there but if we’re going with the hypothesis that if you can form some arbitrary message which must certainly be true then my anagrams are as equally deserving of your attention.  It’s a form of FSM argument.

Palimpsest+Abscissa?

Impassable spastics
Simplest basics, ASAP!
As a psalmist’s biceps…
Spies basalt maps (sic)
Spies Cabalists maps
Basic S.A.L.T. spies maps
Class bait spies maps
For all the dubstep fans: Spacial Bass Missteps

Let’s take it further, no clever anagrams of the misspelled words?

Iqlusion+Undergruund+Desparatly?

Nursery riddles?  Unadult opaquing!
Sunland, requires auditory unplug.
A purr resoundingly unequal didst…
A ruddy opaque gunrunner distills.
“Sirs?” – prudently auld unique dragon

There are many more available.  Anagramming is a fun word game or a sometimes useful tool to pick apart a transposition, it’s not really a cipher system.  It’s a little too easy to get a confusing or wildly incorrect message instead of the one you were intended to receive.

On the other hand, I can talk at people all day long but it would be nice to have someone else weigh in on it.

Anyone?

-Kryptosfan

Okay, so we mulled over the possible Kryptos keywords anagrams and in doing so, two other someones brought up a very interesting possibility.

Okay, here’s the comments:

timescape:

With the derivation of the keywords still not known (that I’m aware of) and for me personally a lot of the overall big picture of the installation being unsatisfying. (Morse code, granite slabs, reflecting pool, letter of dedication, misspellings, etc.) An anagram game with keywords seems to be another potential black whole of rabbit trails. There is much that can suck one in all over the installation. The Extra ‘L’ on the tableau side, and the raised letters on the ciphertext are additional areas.

All that said, the PS its as simple anagram is a nice reminder to keep things simple and not get in over your head. I know I’ve spent too much time running down ‘sure things’ that turned out to be interesting at best, delusional more likely.

I still like to believe there is a beautiful big-picture ‘Ah-ha’ that would tie all these disparate items together into one impressive piece of artwork. Not that what is currently known isn’t impressive, it just remains unclear. Of course, this is personal wish as well as most great art is left open to interpretation and allows for personal meaning to be gleaned without a lot of dictating.

KryptosFreak:

Hahaha disparate

timescape:

NIce catch! Yeah, the proper spellings of the misspellings is another area where I think there’s plenty of unearthed material to be revealed.

It’s significant because I don’t remember anyone observing that “DESPARATLY” could have been intended as “DISPARATELY” and not “DESPERATELY”.  Aside from the reference “Slowly, desperately slowly it seemed to us as we watched,…” [The Tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen, vol. I, by Howard Carter and Arthur C. Mace (London, 1923), pp. 95-96] both are equally likely in that we are to change one letter and add an E.

It’s clever wordplay and that’s always a fun way to pass the time.

What other possibilities are there for Iqlusion, Undergruund, and Desparatly?

-Kryptosfan