The Code the CIA Can't Crack

1. Alex
   May 4th, 2009 at 12:47 pm

   Also the subject of Dan Brown's latest novel, right? I've read somewhere that there were mistakes in the codes (when the sculpture was cast) that threw a lot of cryptoanalysts.

2. Bonehead108
   May 4th, 2009 at 1:04 pm

   If it was me, I'd leave the last part complete gibberish just to mess with people.

3. mikos
   May 4th, 2009 at 1:07 pm

   Hehe... Probably a one-time-pad! The joke is on the CIA cryptologists.

4. Vonskippy
   May 4th, 2009 at 1:11 pm

   @Gomez: You're a major asshat.

5. Stew
   May 4th, 2009 at 2:00 pm

   I thought I too had read that there was an error in the code. The original author examined it and sure enough, one letter was miscast, throwing off the whole cypher.

6. Frau
   May 4th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

   i used to have a minor interest in cryptology growing up. I had discovered a cryptology book that belonged to my grandfather. It was for use in the British army.

   But, I was watching a program about "inside the CIA" and that sculture had a lengthy segment. The artist showed how he encrypted the "puzzle". He had encrypted it differently for each panel though. Ever since I saw that - I occasionally try to figure it out. I kind of work it like a sudoku. One that I know is extremly difficult to solve, so I just work on maybe two squares every now and then.
   I do however think the last 97 characters are more simple than the first three panels.And that people are making it more difficult than it is.
   When the artist had said "it should unravel and reveal itself slowly" I had thought that one should perhaps copy the statur to paper and roll it up.
   But you would have to know the correct diameter that you should roll it up into.

7. lucky
   May 4th, 2009 at 2:16 pm

   i really do like this sculpture...i bring it up periodically in conversations...actual mysteries are so wonderful

8. violet/riga
   May 4th, 2009 at 2:30 pm

   I really hope the original author has it written down somewhere so that it can be revealed... would be a shame if he died and nobody ever discoverd the secret.

9. Alex
   May 4th, 2009 at 3:34 pm

   Gomez' trolling comment deleted.

10. Johnny Cat
    May 4th, 2009 at 4:07 pm

    Here's a cipher for you to decode:

    ALLYOURBASEAREBELONGTOUS

    There, feel smarter now?

11. vaxjo
    May 4th, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    The title is misleading. It's not that the CIA can't decrypt the cipher - it's just that the organization, as a whole, has never bothered trying. It's left as a hobby exercise to cryptanalists.

    FTFA, "[In 1999] Jim Gillogly, an LA-area cryptanalyst[,] used a Pentium II computer and some custom software to crack the same three sections." Provided that there actually is plain text encrypted in the sculpture, Gillogly and his ilk could probably use a contemporary computer (or array of same) to make short work of the rest of the cipher.

12. Josh
    May 4th, 2009 at 5:25 pm

    @Bonehead108
    Exactly what I was thinking. It would be the perfect prank leaving 100s of people trying to decrypt the impossible.

13. theJustin
    May 4th, 2009 at 5:28 pm

    I ran section 4 through a Google and Yahoo search, here's the answer... "Thank You Mario! But Our Princess Is In Another Castle!"

14. skidworth
    May 4th, 2009 at 6:06 pm

    the last section is backwards, and if you use three mirrors and a theodolite you can plainly see that it says "I killed JR!"

15. Randomacy
    May 4th, 2009 at 8:50 pm

    Use crackers!

16. edc2
    May 4th, 2009 at 9:05 pm

    "nya nya! I know something you don't"
    what an asshole this guy is.

17. DOJ
    May 4th, 2009 at 9:06 pm

    Couldn't they just use that thing from Dan Brown's 'Digital Fortress'?

18. edc2
    May 4th, 2009 at 9:07 pm

    actually if it said "drink your ovaltine!" that'd be cool.
    but he's still an asshole.

19. Snake Oil Baron
    May 4th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

    That part with the shadow falling on it looks like the same letters repeated in each line but progressing one letter on each line. Do I win something?

20. Ali S.
    May 4th, 2009 at 9:32 pm

    @ Frau

    That is an interesting idea...rolling the paper would maybe allow one to see if letters in one line or section overlap or sit side by side other letters!

21. ted
    May 5th, 2009 at 6:51 am

    Sounds bogus. Would the CIA, in all their paranoia, actually approve it in advance without knowing what it said?

22. Rich
    May 5th, 2009 at 9:00 am

    It says "your tax dollars at work".

23. Chris Cyrek
    May 5th, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    The cipher is related to the locality of the sun and it's corresponding shadow.

24. earbox
    May 5th, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    It translates to a particularly good recipe for chocolate chip cookies, I hear.

25. Curtis Mailtif
    May 5th, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    Does the shadow during certain times of day play a role in the message? I mean I'm not actually asking, but kind of seems like it may.

26. john scott
    July 6th, 2009 at 6:18 am

    saw this Kryptos clue on the 11 o'clock news

    http://11oclocknews.typepad.com

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