NSA Cracked the Kryptos Sculpture Years Before the CIA Did

But this case teaches us that the CIA seems to acknowledge that there is a lighter side to life, that you could actually enjoy it, and that solving puzzles could be harmless and not a threat to the nation.

I suspect this is not the case with the NSA.

boog • July 26, 2013 5:46 PM

@G van Grijnen

Or perhaps there is, but the NSA decided to keep it a secret.

So that when somebody else finds a solution, the NSA can speak up and say “yeah well we totally did that already years before you”?

redsmurf • July 26, 2013 10:15 PM

But my kid in the CIA can beat up your kid in the NSA.

Paul Renault • July 27, 2013 8:49 AM

What if the sculptor pranked the CIA and the NSA by making the fourth part just random noise?

Heh.

Eph • July 28, 2013 11:11 AM

Isn’t it quite likely that the artist mistyped and made some error? Similar to encoded messages from some criminals, which were unencoded due to flaws.

G van Grijnen • July 28, 2013 3:34 PM

@Eph

Your associating artists with criminals is quite interesting.

But frankly, I couldn’t say whether the artist made an error, or deliberately created some random noise to spite his client as one reader of this blog seems to suggest.

Or if this is true riddle that has been solved by the NSA.

In this case we will see proof in an internal memo leaked in 2023.

Or if this is a true riddle that hasn’t been solved yet.

I don’t know.

Wesley Parish • July 28, 2013 10:13 PM

I had to laugh at the news that the Vigenere cipher was used for the first part. That just a randomized n+x substitution cipher. It’s hard, but it’s fun … and it took the NSA and the CIA how long to work it out?

Now if Sanborn had used commercial code books for the plaintext of his last message then a Vigenere cipher, leaving clear plaintext for the name Berlin … but are commercial code books even extant these days? (I have no objection to feeding the CIA and the NSA red herrings – they need to diet; on the other hand, it seems very likely that Sanborn has used Vigenere for the last message, because he’s said NYPVTT is BERLIN, and TT=IN gives a hint to the depth of the Vigenere used, and the codeword used.)

Ian Mellor • July 29, 2013 3:25 AM

“These days the NSA is best known for its broad, indiscriminate spying on Americans and foreigners. ”

Love it! The more it gets said, the more likely it is to change. Or become an expected norm.

hmmm

Mike B • July 29, 2013 7:06 AM

If I were a guy making a sculpture like this I’d encrypt the last segment with a one time pad. Sounds like something xkcd’s Black Hat would do.

@NobodySpecial That’s called thinking outside the box. Cryptanalysis shouldn’t limit itself to only those techniques considered “sporting”. It would also be the only way to deal with a one time pad.

@Ian Mellor If you call and e-mail history is already being sold to every marketer under the sun how do you have a reasonable expectation of privacy?

G van Grijnen • July 29, 2013 3:27 PM

@Wesley Parish,

I can imagine your fun at the gigantic stupidity of the NSA and the CIA who were totally clueless about the Vigenere cipher.

Dirk Praet • July 29, 2013 7:29 PM

@ Wesley Parish

If it’s a simple Vigenere, they would have probably cracked it already. It would be horribly wrong to assume that all folks working at the NSA are utter imbeciles. I personally find it more likely that if the 4th part was cracked after 9/11 or was revealed to contain something deemed inappropriate, chances are that it’s probably classified. Anyone tried a FOI request yet ?

Schneier on Security

NSA Cracked the Kryptos Sculpture Years Before the CIA Did

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