Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 12:45:42 -0400 Subject: Markoff New York Times Article 6 16 99 June 16, 1999 C.I.A.'s Artistic Enigma Yields All but Final Clue By JOHN MARKOFF It has stood in a courtyard inside the Central Intelligence Agency for almost a decade, a sculptural mystery inside an enigma. But last week Jim Gillogly, a Southern California computer scientist, did what has until now been done -- quietly, and incompletely -- only inside the agency's halls. He succeeded in breaking almost all of a cipher embedded in a sculpture called Kryptos -- the Greek word for "hidden" -- that was dedicated at the C.I.A. in October 1990. Since then, the 865-character message etched into the sculpture by the artist, Jim Sanborn, has defied all efforts to unravel its conundrum completely. Even Gillogly acknowledges that he has deciphered only its first 768 characters. Still unbroken are the last 97 characters, apparently the same section that has also stumped both the C.I.A. and the National Security Agency. Sanborn said this week that the sculpture contains a riddle within a riddle -- one that will be solvable only after the four encrypted passages are known. The complete answer was handed to William H. Webster, the Director of Central Intelligence when the sculpture was completed, and has been held in confidence by his successors. The tantalizing clues uncovered last week are likely to rekindle interest in a complete solution: The three sections include a poetic phrase, a reference to a point near the C.I.A.'s headquarters in Langley, Va. (with the enticing passage, "Who knows the exact location? Only WW"), and an excerpt from an account of the opening of King Tut's tomb in 1922. "I don't really have a good idea of what it might be," said Gillogly, a 53-year-old cryptographer at Mentat Inc., a Los Angeles software maker, who started designing cryptograms with his brother as a child in an effort to stump their father. A computer hacker in the best sense of the word and a past president of the American Cryptogram Association, Gillogly (pronounced gill-OH-glee) began exploring the Kryptos message in 1992, but he abandoned it until nine days ago, when he saw it briefly alluded to in an Internet discussion group. This time he was armed with a better weapon than the pencil and paper he had seven years ago: his home computer, a highly powered Pentium II. And the key to solving the first three sections of the message proved to be a program that Gillogly had written as part of his cryptographic passion. The program, he said, is intended to help solve what he refers to as classical cryptographic systems used by kings, armies and spies before World War II. Even with more computational power, he had to apply traditional cryptographic methods, using his logical powers of deduction. "There was a fair amount of skull sweat," he said. "You work on it and you see something that is a little out of whack and you start pulling on it to see what unravels." When he contacted the C.I.A's press office last week, Gillogly learned that he was not the first codebreaker to succeed at unraveling the first part of the mystery. In February, David Stein, who works for the agency as a physicist and senior analyst, and not as a professional cryptographer, had quietly uncovered the same three passages. Like Gillogly, he has been stumped by the final section, although he believes that it will eventually be solved. "The Kryptos puzzle is a layered puzzle," he said yesterday, "and we may find that it has layers within layers within layers." Stein sounded a bit miffed when he learned that Gillogly had used a computer in his pursuit of the hidden codes. "Kryptos was meant to be solved with pencil and paper," he said. There were no written rules in this contest, Gillogly responded, adding: "As far as I'm concerned a crack is where you find it. The choice of tool isn't the important part, but rather the decisions about how to use the tools." For his part, Webster, the former Director, said yesterday that he had long since forgotten the answer. "I have zero memory of this," he said. "It was philosophical and obscure." But he sided with Gillogly on using a computer. "Who set the rules here?" he asked. "This is precisely what the agencies do when they try to break codes." Sanborn, the artist, who has designed a number of sculptures that are puzzles, has said he believes that the ultimate secret hidden in the text of Kryptos will never be deciphered. It was designed by Edward M. Scheidt, a former chairman of the C.I.A.'s Cryptographic Center. That has not stopped either Gillogly or Stein from speculating on what the full message may contain. And Gillogly has even contemplated exploring the bag of tricks of some of the world's acknowledged past spy masters in search of the complete solution. "There're still those last few lines waiting to be decrypted," he wrote last week in an Internet discussion group. "I'll review the 'Mission Impossible' movie for tips on getting into the vault, if all else fails." Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company ____________________________________________________________________ Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 13:10:35 -0400 Subject: Re: Markoff New York Times Article 6 16 99 Article with the text of the solution. It is provided below: ----- June 16, 1999 The Kryptos Code Unmasked Here are the first three passages of the code on the Kryptos statue as deciphered by Jim Gillogly, including misspellings (of "illusion," "underground" and "desperately"). The second passage identifies a location near the C.I.A. headquarters; the third is taken from Howard Carter's account of the opening of King Tut's tomb in 1922. --------------------------------------------------- Related Article C.I.A.'s Artistic Enigma Yields All but Final Clue (June 16, 1999) --------------------------------------------------- 1. Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of iqlusion. 2. It was totally invisible. How's that possible? They used the earth's magnetic field. x The information was gathered and transmitted undergruund to an unknown location. x Does Langley know about this? They should: it's buried out there somewhere. x Who knows the exact location? Only WW. This was his last message. x Thirty-eight degrees fifty-seven minutes six point five seconds north, seventy-seven degrees eight minutes forty-four seconds west. ID by rows. 3. Slowly, desparatly slowly, the remains of passage debris that encumbered the lower part of the doorway was removed. With trembling hands I made a tiny breach in the upper left-hand corner. And then, widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in. The hot air escaping from the chamber caused the flame to flicker, but presently details of the room within emerged from the mist. x Can you see anything? ----------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 14:30:41 -0400 Subject: London Times article June 17 1999 UNITED STATES Rivals chip at sculpture's code FROM BEN MACINTYRE IN WASHINGTON Links A CALIFORNIAN computer scientist has taken on the CIA's finest code-breakers to try to solve a riddle embedded in a sculpture outside the intelligence agency's headquarters in Virginia. The sculpture Kryptos, the Greek word for hidden, was created in 1990 by Jim Sanborn with a secret 865-character message etched into its sides. It has presented a challenge to the CIA's cryptologists ever since. Last week Jim Gillogly, a software designer from Los Angeles, said that he had deciphered all but 97 of the characters using a powerful home computer and his own cryptographic software, which incorporates 1930s code-breaking techniques. He said that the first three sections of code contain a line of poetry, a reference to the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 and clues to a point on the map near the CIA's Langley headquarters. So far Mr Gillogly has failed to crack the crucial final section of the puzzle. Mr Sanborn will say only that the cipher is a "riddle within a riddle", soluble only when four encrypted passages are each unravelled. The answer to the puzzle was handed to the CIA director William Webster in 1990 and has since been handed down in secrecy to his successors. Mr Sanborn's sculpture, like its message, is multilayered, created out of granite, quartz, lodestone, copper and water. It stands directly outside the CIA cafeteria as a tantalising reminder to the agents inside of their limitations. Mr Gillogly has deciphered an apparent reference to Mr Webster: "Who knows the exact location? Only WW." But if the solution to Kryptos hinged on Mr Webster's memory, it would never be solved because he has forgotten the answer. "I have zero memory of this. It was philosophical and obscure," he said, cryptically. http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/tour/krypt.html- the CIA's website _____________________________________________________________