DOC_7.PDF

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__, boc!o: 4os11s1 
COt1P:IDD~TIALHSI 
DATE: 
REPLY TO 
ATTN OF: 
SUBJECT: 
To:· 
26 March 1992 
.__ _____ __.I z 4 41 · · 
KRYPTOS sculpture 
..__ ____ I· z 4 4 
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
memorandum 
(b)(3)-P.L. 86-36 
-~FOUO) 
In 
response to 
a 
direct challenge 
from the Central 
Intelligence Agency, 
NSA analysts have successfully diagnosed and 
read 
a 
major portion of the 
KRYPTOS 
sculpture, 
located in the 
courtyard of CIA in Langley, Virginia. 
As of 1 Dec 92, the cipher 
has been divided into four sections, 
with complete analysis and 
decryption completed on the firs…

.. ooc'to: 4051151 
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INTRODUCTION 
(U)_p(' The following paper will take a technical look at the 
solution to a major portion of the KRYPTOS sculpture located in 
the courtyard of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Vir-
ginia. Before starting on the technical details, let's take a 
quick look at the history of the sculpture, as well as a few com-
ments from the sculptor. 
rJ _Jf.OEJOf- In June 1988, 
a Fine Arts Commission project was 
announced by the CIA to acquire art work for the new CIA Headquar-
ters building. When the selection process had be…

One half of the sculpture contains the following Vige- which uses mixed sequences based on the keyword KRYPTOS. o ae Ty ABCDEFGHIJIKLUMNOPQRSTUVWAXYZABCD AKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJItuUMNQUVWXZKRYP BRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZ2KRYPT C YPTOSABCDEFGHIJSTILMNQUVWXZKRYPTO DPTOSABCDEFGHISJLiILMNQUVWX2ZKRYPTOS ETOSABCDEFGHIJILMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSA FOSABCDEFGHIJILMNQUVWAXAZKRYPTOSAB GSABCDEFGHIJSuiUMNQUVWXZ2KRYPTOSABC HABCDEFGHIJTLUMNQUVWXKZKRYPTOSABCOD I BCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCODE J CDEFGHIJL%LMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCODEF K DEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCODEFG LEFGHIJLUMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCODEFGH MFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDE…

4051151 “‘DOcTD: Line llowing is the other half of the main sculpture. ly. | numbers and underlining have been added for reference purposes only, and are not a part of the sculpture. EMUFPHZLURFAXYUSDJIKZLDKRNSHGNFIVIGA 1 UXQBQVYUVLLTREVIYQTMKYRDMFD UDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFRFQUJSINCE GGWHKKP?PDOMCPFQOZDEMMIAGPFXKHQRIG Q J 2 Y QT 3 VE P 4 5 TIMVMZJIANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPUJUUNGEUNA QZGZLECGYUXUEENJTBIJLBQCRIBIDFHUIURR YIZETKZEMVDUFKSJVAKFWHKUWOQLS2ZFKFTI 6 7 8 HHDDDUVH2?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE EVLDKFEZMOQQITLTTUVUGSYQOPFEUNLAVIDEX 9 10 FLGGTEZ?P?FKZBSFDQOVGOGIPUFXHHODRKF 1l FHQNTGPUAECNUVPDIJIMQCLQUMUNED…

· boc·:to: 4051151 
GO~J~ID~~JTIAL 
DIAGNOSIS 
~The initial diagnosis of this cipher revealed the prob-
#' 
able use of at least 3 separate cryptographies. The main reason 
for this assumption was that beginning with line 15, and proceed-
ing through to line 25, numerous analysts noticed that a frequency --
count of the letters observed would roughly match that of the 
English language. If lines 15~25 used some particular cryptosys-
tem, then it was likely that another was used for lines 1-14 and 
yet another one used for lines 26-28. That would yield a probable_.--
minimum of 3 distinct crypt…

‘pocip: 4051151 THE FIRST BREAKTHROUGH sx Under the hypothesis that the first section employed a polyalphabetic substitution with 8 alphabets, a frequency count was done for each alphabet in the cipher. It was assumed that the alphabets were used in a sequential order, i.e., alphabet #1 was used to encipher characters number 1, 9, 17, 25, etc.; Alphabet #2 was used for characters 2, 10, 18, 26, etc. ABCDEFGHIMIsgsSKUMNOPQRSTUWV W Y 2 - -4222222i3i1%31#d1+-+-8283282c-2C21228-i282i 4 2121-38543 4-51242-+2+23312123i13+21i2 3-- 31-+-+-73132d1d31c2--éii23202313d314231d21 421 13 -312-+-31274-+4-5 2-…

.:DOC'ID: 4051151 
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In the sixth row the following looked like a 
good 
alignment as well. 
1 
1 
1 -
1 -
1 
1 -
-
·4 7 
9 1 
1 
1 
1 
6 
2 -
4 
4 -
1 
3 
5 
Q u v w x z K 
R 
y 
p 
T 0 s A 
B c D E 
F 
G 
H 
I 
J 
L 
M N 
U -+St Using some of these assumptions and cribbing in words 
where needed, 
a ·solution was effected. Following are the plain 
alphabet, the 8 cipher alphabets, and a decryption of the text 
that was readable. Note two items: 1) there is a repeating key:of 
ABSCISSA under the index letter of K in the plain alphabet, and; 
2) the re…

oocto: 4051151 
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VRRGKFFV OEEXBDMV PNFQXEZL GREDNQFM PNZGLFLP 
INUTESSI XPOINTFI VESECOND SNORTHSE VENTYSEV 
MRJQYALM GNUVPDXV KPDQUMZB EDMHDAFM JGZNUPLG 
ENDEGREE SEIGHTMI NUTESFOR TYFOURSE CONDSWES 
EWJLLAET 
G 
TIDBYROW 
S 
LI "",i'@tJff)- Here is a more readable version, with punctuation 
added: 
"IT WAS 
TOTALLY 
INVISIBLE. 
HOW'S 
THAT POSSIBLE? THEY USED THE 
EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD. 
THE INFORMATION WAS GATHERED AND TRANS-
MITTED· 
UNDERGROUND 
TO 
AN 
UNKNOWN 
LOCATION. 
DOES 
LANGLEY 
KNOW 
ABOUT THIS? THEY SHOULD. ITS BURIED OUT THERE SOMEWH…