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!
UPDATE:
Moshe Rubin can play the English concertina and is a pretty good guy:
Kryptos - Beyond K4 
So you’re back to the K5 philosophy, then?
Nope!
I think most people attack the Kryptos cipher(s) like a technical analyst. The problem with that approach is that any government/state-funded analyst is also supported by a wide variety of other sources of intelligence. Intelligence that we need to either acquire more of or do a better job of analyzing.
I, like many others, read historical accounts of ciphers being beaten quickly despite key changes and how these pencil/paper ciphers are insecure in the computer era. This led me to think they should be attacked directly. This view also neglects traffic analysis, certain assumptions made by Kerckhoff’s principle, and other historical contexts that simply don’t apply to Kryptos.
Chaocipher wasn’t beaten because someone finally got smart enough or lucky enough. It was because Moshe cold-called Byrne phone numbers in Vermont and then convinced a 92 year old woman to donate everything to a museum.
We may not find anything and there may not be anything useful out there that will help but I’m up for trying something new and different besides straight cryptanalysis. We need another Moshe Rubin to take a chance and try some crazy idea that most wouldn’t think possible.
This should spark some new interest in K4.
First, three very important notes:
1) From Wired News 1-20-05 – Interview with Jim Sanborn.
WN: So just by reading the text taken from Kryptos and posted online, you can solve the puzzle?
Sanborn: Well, yeah. …
2) From Wired News 1-21-05 – Interview with Ed Scheidt.
WN: Jim said that he took your techniques and then he deliberately masked them even more so that even you wouldn’t know what was in the puzzle.
3) From Elonka Dunin’s 2003 roadtrip
He made a specific point that the “key” is not necessarily the keyword. “In a modern digital system, the ‘key’ is the keyword or number that you need to decrypt the message. Everyone knows the algorithm. It is just a black box into which you insert the key and the encrypted text, and the answer comes out the other end. In analog systems (as used in Kryptos) the ‘key’ is the algorithm.”
What I’ve discovered in the text from the sculpture:
First Key: PARASYSTOLE. Found by removing three raised letters of K3 plain text, then unscramble first 11 letters (SLOYESPARAT). Meaning of key PARASYSTOLE: Second pacemaker. Algorithm hint from key: K4 is split in two (discussed later).
Second Key: LETHEAN + eleven more letters. Found by aligning two ‘Q’ letters in K1 and K3, placing K3/K4 on top of K1/K2 (layer two) which reveals several (17) common letters between the top and bottom layers. The ‘U’ of UNDERGRUUND serves to divide the 17 letters making 18. Meaning of key LETHEAN: River…running water. Algorithm hint from key: use running key(s).
Discussion: LETHEAN is seven letters. Eleven more letters follow LETHEAN. Conclusion: (7+11) + (7+11) + (7+11) + (7+11) + (7+11) + 7 = 97. K4 is 97 letters. Split K4 into two as follows:
1234567|12345678901
——-+———–
OBKRUOX|OGHULBSOLIF
BBWFLRV|QQPRNGKSSOT
WTQSJQS|SEKZZWATJKL
UDIAWIN|FBNYPVTTMZF
PKWGDKZ|XTJCDIGKUHU
AUEKCAR
Solve K4-left separately from K4-right. This technique interfered with analysis of K4 as a whole.
Next, find the running keys. The location has to be relayed with the message, so use the lat/long numbers 38-57-6.5, 77-8-44… line 3, character 8; line 5 character 7; line 6 character 5; line 7 character 7; line 8 character 4; line 4, first character. (Hint: Look at the code chart image for K1 and part of K2, notice the lines are numbered and line 3 is at the start of K2. So, take 18 characters (7+11) from each line at the offset specified, except the last line, just take seven.)
Not done yet! Sanborn masked K4 even more. Still have to figure that one out.
Good luck.
Good luck to you as well!
I stumbled upon your interesting blog yesterday and was surprised to discover I had undergone a plastic surgery operation . I refer to your kind artist’s rendering of my portrait (see your original posting). Although I never considered waxing my mustache as the gentleman in the picture, it certainly lends him an air of sophistication.
For the record, I humbly present two links to my own likeness:
http://www.mountainvistasoft.com/concert.htm
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mosherubin
I also thank you for your kind words (“We need another Moshe Rubin to take a chance and try some crazy idea that most wouldn’t think possible”). Truth be told, I did it out of desperation when considering the possibility that John Byrne (the son) could conceivably auction the entire archive off on eBay, preventing the cryptologic community from ever discovering the enciphering algorithm. The thought troubled me no end, forcing me to do the crazy thing and cold-call all Byrnes in Vermont.
In the case of Kryptos K4 there is no family / relative / friend one can call — calling Jim Sanborn or the CIA is not an option at the moment. Nonetheless, I salute your attitude of “we gotta think out of the box” and wish you the best of luck.
Moshe Rubin
You are one of the modern-day obscure code/cipher solving heroes. Chaocipher would have never been solved without your help and as time was ticking, there was a chance the mechanism and solution would have been lost to us forever. Thank you for stopping by! Even if I never solve Kryptos, having the chance to communicate with folks like you has made the whole experience a lot of fun.