
The NSA cracked the Kryptos sculpture years before the CIA (2013) - nefitty
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-07/11/nsa-solved-kryptos
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dmcginty
I feel like this headline is misleading. They've solved the first three parts,
but not the last. I was really hoping that this article was going to say
something about progress on the last section, commonly called K4.

If anybody is interested in Kryptos, I highly recommend Elonka Dunin's page:
[http://www.elonka.com/kryptos/](http://www.elonka.com/kryptos/)

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UnoriginalGuy
They might have solved K4 but the method used might be extremely classified,
for example if it is AES-256 encrypted and they solved it, yeah, mass panic.

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caf
The _CIA Fine Arts Commission_?

Is there an _FBI Jazz and Bebop Directorate_?

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dang
There have been a number of good HN threads (sorry I don't have links) on the
CIA's history of promoting arts and letters—often by artists and writers who
became distinguished later, indicating rather good taste at the CIA.

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DrStalker
Or perhaps indicating that the CIA knows how to make an artist famous without
it being traced back to them.

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datashovel
Does anyone know precisely what is at the location of the coordinates?

First thing I thought to do, as soon as I saw that 4th puzzle was unsolved,
was to look at a map of the coordinates:

[https://www.google.com/maps/place/38%C2%B057'06.5%22N+77%C2%...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/38%C2%B057'06.5%22N+77%C2%B008'44.0%22W/@38.9518207,-77.1458225,84m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0)

Looks like it's a place on a sidewalk on the premises, so perhaps it's where a
clue exists that makes it possible to solve K4?

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aristus
It's in a courtyard inside the Langley headquarters.

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datashovel
Thanks for the reply. I was thinking more along the lines of high-resolution
images of what is on the sidewalk at precisely those coordinates, or in the
vicinity of those coordinates. Or if anyone on HN reading this thread has
actually been there to see first-hand what's at those coordinates.

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aristus
I have been there. It's a tall rusty sculpture in a courtyard well inside
Langley HQ. The only odd thing I noticed is that some letters are over or
below the line. Can't take pictures or rubbings so not much else to report.

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lifeisstillgood
Superb example of inter-agency knowledge sharing and co-operation. So
hopefully Iranian intelligence officers can work out how to have multiple
handlers and multiple income streams and - cha-Ching!

/ bad mood /

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Steko
Was half-expecting the story to say that the NSA just went to their tape
database and re-listened to all phone calls made between Sanborn (sculptor)
and Scheidt (CIA crypto resource).

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developer1
This is what citizens' tax dollars pay for. How nice that public funds can so
easily be used to pay people to do nothing.

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stephengillie
I, for one, would prefer to have my tax dollars spent commissioning statues
and other art, rather than buying bombs or weaponry of any sort.

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andreyf
False dichotomy.

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jayzalowitz
What about if we bomb other countries with our art....

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stephengillie
High-speed photography of explosions can be considered art. My point appears
moot.

