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[[Category:Deletion candidate]]
{{about|the sculpture|other uses|Kryptos  (disambiguation)}}
{{Italic title}}
[[File:Kryptos sculptor.jpg|thumbnail|right|300px|''Kryptos'' at [[CIA]] headquarters in [[Langley, Virginia]]]]
 
'''''Kryptos''''' is a sculpture by the American artist Jim Sanborn that is located on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia. Since its dedication on November 3, 1990, there has been much speculation about the meaning of the four encrypted messages it bears. Of the four messages, the first three have been solved, while the fourth message remains as one of the most famous unsolved codes in the world. The sculpture continues to be of interest to cryptanalysts, both amateur and professional, who are attempting to decipher the fourth section. The artist has so far given two clues to this section.
 
== Description ==
The main part of the sculpture is located in the northwest corner of the New Headquarters Building courtyard, outside of the Agency's cafeteria.
 
The sculpture comprises four large copper plates with other elements consisting of water, wood, plants, red and green granite, white quartz, and petrified wood.
 
The name ''Kryptos'' comes from the ancient Greek word for "''hidden''", and the theme of the sculpture is "Intelligence Gathering".
 
The most prominent feature is a large vertical S-shaped copper screen resembling a scroll or a piece of paper emerging from a computer printer, half of which consists of encrypted text.
 
The characters are all found within the 26 letters of the [[Latin alphabet]], along with question marks, and are cut out of the copper plates.
 
The main sculpture contains four separate enigmatic messages, three of which have been deciphered.<ref name=secrets/>
 
In addition to the main part of the sculpture, Jim Sanborn also placed other pieces of art at the CIA grounds, such as several large granite slabs with sandwiched copper sheets outside the entrance to the New Headquarters Building. Several morse code messages are found on these copper sheets, and one of the stone slabs has an engraving of a compass rose pointing to a lodestone.
 
Other elements of Sanborn's installation include a landscaped garden area, a fish pond with opposing wooden benches, a reflecting pool, and other pieces of stone including a triangle shaped black stone slab.
 
The cost of the sculpture in 1988 was US $250,000 (worth US $501,000 in 2016).<ref name="FAQ"/>
 
== Encrypted messages ==
The ciphertext on the left-hand side of the sculpture (as seen from the courtyard) of the main sculpture contains 869 characters in total : 865 letters and 4 question marks.
 
In April 2006, however, Sanborn released information stating that a letter was omitted from this side of ''Kryptos'' "for aesthetic reasons, to keep the sculpture visually balanced".<ref>Zetter, Kim. [http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/04/70701?currentPage=2 "Typo Confounds Kryptos Sleuths" ''Wired'' April 20, 2006 ]</ref>
 
There are also three misspelled words in the plaintext of the deciphered first three parts, which Sanborn has said was intentional, and three letters (YAR) near the beginning of the bottom half of the left side are the only characters on the sculpture in [[superscript]].
 
The right-hand side of the sculpture comprises a keyed [[Vigenère cipher|Vigenère]] encryption tableau, consisting of 867 letters.
 
One of the lines of the Vigenère tableau has an extra character (L), which Sanborn has indicated was accidental.<ref name=error2006/>
 
{|
|-----
|
<pre>EMUFPHZLRFAXYUSDJKZLDKRNSHGNFIVJ
YQTQUXQBQVYUVLLTREVJYQTMKYRDMFD
VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE
GGWHKK?DQMCPFQZDQMMIAGPFXHQRLG
TIMVMZJANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPJUNGEUNA
QZGZLECGYUXUEENJTBJLBQCRTBJDFHRR
YIZETKZEMVDUFKSJHKFWHKUWQLSZFTI
HHDDDUVH?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE
EVLDKFEZMOQQJLTTUGSYQPFEUNLAVIDX
FLGGTEZ?FKZBSFDQVGOGIPUFXHHDRKF
FHQNTGPUAECNUVPDJMQCLQUMUNEDFQ
ELZZVRRGKFFVOEEXBDMVPNFQXEZLGRE
DNQFMPNZGLFLPMRJQYALMGNUVPDXVKP
DQUMEBEDMHDAFMJGZNUPLGEWJLLAETG</pre>
|
<pre>&nbsp;ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCD
AKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYP
BRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPT
CYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTO
DPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOS
ETOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSA
FOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSAB
GSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABC
HABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCD
IBCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDE
JCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEF
KDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFG
LEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGH
MFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHI</pre>
|-----
|
<pre>ENDYAHROHNLSRHEOCPTEOIBIDYSHNAIA
CHTNREYULDSLLSLLNOHSNOSMRWXMNE
TPRNGATIHNRARPESLNNELEBLPIIACAE
WMTWNDITEENRAHCTENEUDRETNHAEOE
TFOLSEDTIWENHAEIOYTEYQHEENCTAYCR
EIFTBRSPAMHHEWENATAMATEGYEERLB
TEEFOASFIOTUETUAEOTOARMAEERTNRTI
BSEDDNIAAHTTMSTEWPIEROAGRIEWFEB
AECTDDHILCEIHSITEGOEAOSDDRYDLORIT
RKLMLEHAGTDHARDPNEOHMGFMFEUHE
ECDMRIPFEIMEHNLSSTTRTVDOHW?OBKR
UOXOGHULBSOLIFBBWFLRVQQPRNGKSSO
TWTQSJQSSEKZZWATJKLUDIAWINFBNYP
VTTMZFPKWGDKZXTJCDIGKUHUAUEKCAR</pre>
|
<pre>NGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJL
OHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJL
PIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLM
QJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMN
RLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQ
SMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQU
TNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUV
UQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVW
VUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWX
WVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZ
XWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZK
YXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKR
ZZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRY
&nbsp;ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCD</pre>
|}
 
Sanborn worked with a retiring CIA employee named [[Ed Scheidt]], Chairman of the CIA Office of Communications, to come up with the cryptographic systems used on the sculpture.
 
Sanborn has revealed that the sculpture contains a riddle within a riddle, which will be solvable only after the four encrypted passages have been deciphered.
 
He has given conflicting information about the sculpture's answer, saying at one time that he gave the complete solution to the then-CIA director [[William H. Webster|William Webster]] during the dedication ceremony; but later, he also said that he had not given Webster the entire solution. He did, however, confirm that within the part of the plaintext of the second message which reads "Who knows the exact location? Only WW.", "WW" was intended to refer to William Webster.
 
Sanborn also confirmed that should he die before the entire sculpture becomes deciphered, there will be someone able to confirm the solution.<ref>Zetter, Kim. [http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2005/01/66333 "Questions for Kryptos' Creator,"] ''Wired'' (January 20, 2005).</ref>
 
== Solvers ==
The first person to announce publicly that he had solved the first three sections was [[Jim Gillogly]], a [[computer scientist]] from southern [[California]], who deciphered these sections using a computer, and revealed his solutions in 1999.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/06/biztech/articles/16code.html|title=CIA's Artistic Enigma Reveals All but Final Clues|date=June 16, 1999|work=[[New York Times]]|accessdate=December 11, 2011|author=Markoff, John|authorlink=John Markoff}}</ref>
 
After Gillogly's announcement, the CIA revealed that their analyst David Stein also had solved the same sections in 1998 using pencil and paper techniques, although at the time of his solution the information was only disseminated within the intelligence community<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[Studies in Intelligence]]|format=pdf|title=The Puzzle at CIA Headquarters: Cracking the Courtyard Crypto |first=David D. |last=Stein |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB431/docs/intell_ebb_010.PDF|year=1999|volume=43|issue=1}}</ref> and no public announcement was made until July 1999.<ref name=schwartz>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/july99/kryptos19.htm|title=Cracking the Code of a CIA Sculpture|date=July 19, 1999|work=Washington Post|accessdate=December 11, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Zetter|first=Kim|title=CIA Releases Analyst’s Fascinating Tale of Cracking the Kryptos Sculpture|url=http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/06/analyst-who-cracked-kryptos/|publisher=Wired.com|accessdate=5 June 2013}}</ref>
 
The [[National Security Agency|NSA]] also claimed that some of their employees had solved the same three parts, but would not reveal names or dates until March 2000, when it was learned that an NSA team led by Ken Miller, along with Dennis McDaniels and two other unnamed individuals, had solved parts 1–3 in late 1992.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2000-03-17/news/0003180448_1_decipher-petrified-wood-cia-headquarters|title=Unlocking the secret of 'Kryptos'|date=March 17, 2000|accessdate=December 11, 2011|work=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|author=Bowman, Tom|authorlink=Tom Bowman (journalist)}}</ref>
 
In 2013, in response to a [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] request by [[Elonka Dunin]], the NSA released documents which show the NSA became involved in attempts to solve the ''Kryptos'' puzzle in 1992, following a challenge by [[Bill Studeman]], then Deputy Director of the CIA. The documents show that by June 1993, a small group of NSA cryptanalysts had succeeded in solving the first three parts of the sculpture.<ref>{{cite news|work=wired.com|url=http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/07/nsa-cracked-kryptos-before-cia|title=Documents Reveal How the NSA Cracked the Kryptos Sculpture Years Before the CIA|first=Kim|last=Zetter|date=July 10, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=slate.com|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/07/11/nsa_cracked_kryptos_statue_before_the_cia.html|title=NSA Cracked Kryptos Before the CIA. What Other Mysteries Has It Solved?|first=Jathan|last=Sadowski|date=July 11, 2013}}</ref>
 
The above attempts to solve Kryptos found that part two ended with WESTIDBYROWS, but in 2005, Nicole Friedrich, a [[logician]], [[philosopher]] and [[computer scientist]] from [[Vancouver]], [[Canada]], determined that another possible plaintext was: WESTPLAYERTWO.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sites.google.com/site/sarenasix/home |title=From a radio interview on BellCoreRadio, season 1, episode 32, Barcode Brothers |publisher=Sites.google.com |date=2005-10-11 |accessdate=2011-11-12}}</ref>
 
In 2006, Sanborn announced that he had made an error in part 2, and confirmed that the last part of the plaintext was WESTXLAYERTWO, and not WESTIDBYROWS.<ref name=error2006>{{cite web|last1=Zetter|first1=Kim|title=Finally, a New Clue to Solve the CIA’s Mysterious Kryptos Sculpture|url=http://www.wired.com/2014/11/second-kryptos-clue/|accessdate=25 November 2014|date=20 November 2014|work=Wired|quote=in 2006, Sanborn realized he had also made an inadvertent error, a missing “x” that he mistakenly deleted from the end of a line in section two, a section that was already solved}}</ref>
 
== Solutions ==
The following are the solutions of parts 1–3 of the sculpture.<ref>{{cite web|author=Corey Lindsly |url=http://www.elonka.com/kryptos/mirrors/cypherpunks/1999/0930.html |title=Kryptos: The Sanborn Sculpture at CIA Headquarters |publisher=Elonka.com |date= |accessdate=2011-11-12}}</ref>
 
Misspellings present in the text are included verbatim.
 
Kryptos sections one ("K1") and two ("K2")'s ciphers are polyalphabetic substitution ciphers using a [[Vigenère cipher|Vigenère]] tableau similar to the tableau on the right-hand side of the sculpture.
 
Part three ("K3") is a [[transposition cipher]].
 
Part four ("K4") uses a so far unknown method.
 
=== Solution of passage 1 ===
 
Method : [[Vigenère cipher|Vigenère]]
 
Keywords: Kryptos, [[Palimpsest]]
 
BETWEEN SUBTLE SHADING AND THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT LIES THE NUANCE OF [[Occlusion | IQLUSION]]
 
=== Solution of passage 2 ===
 
Method :  [[Vigenère cipher|Vigenère]]
 
Keywords: Kryptos, [[Abscissa]]
 
IT WAS TOTALLY INVISIBLE HOWS THAT POSSIBLE ? THEY USED THE EARTHS MAGNETIC FIELD X THE INFORMATION WAS GATHERED AND TRANSMITTED UNDERGRUUND<!--correct, please do not change--> TO AN UNKNOWN LOCATION X DOES LANGLEY KNOW ABOUT THIS ? THEY SHOULD ITS 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 X LAYER TWO
 
On April 19, 2006, Sanborn contacted an online community dedicated to the Kryptos puzzle to inform them that the accepted solution to part 2 was incorrect.
He said that he made an error in the sculpture by omitting an "X" used to separate sentences, for aesthetic reasons, and that the deciphered text that ended "...FOUR SECONDS WEST ID BY ROWS" should actually be "...FOUR SECONDS WEST X LAYER TWO".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elonka.com/kryptos/CorrectedK2Announcement.html |title=The Kryptos Group announces a corrected answer to Kryptos Part 2 |publisher=Elonka.com |date=2006-04-19 |accessdate=2011-11-12}}</ref>
Note: The coordinates mentioned in the plaintext: {{coord|38|57|6.5|N|77|8|44|W}} are for a point that is approximately 150 feet southeast of the sculpture.<ref name=secrets/>
 
=== Solution of passage 3 ===
 
Method : [[Transposition cipher|Transposition]]
 
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 Q ?
 
This is a paraphrased quotation from [[Howard Carter (archaeologist)|Howard Carter]]'s account of the opening of the tomb of [[Tutankhamun]] on November 26, 1922, as described in his 1923 book ''The Tomb of Tutankhamun''. The question with which it ends is asked by [[George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon|Lord Carnarvon]], to which Carter (in the book) famously replied "wonderful things". In the November 26, 1922 field notes, however, his reply was, "Yes, it is wonderful.".<ref>[http://www.ashmolean.org/gri/4tut.html ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518224221/http://www.ashmolean.org/gri/4tut.html |date=May 18, 2007 }}</ref>
 
=== Solution of passage 4 ===
Part 4 has so far not been publicly solved.
 
== Clues given ==
When commenting in 2006 about his error in section 2, Sanborn said that the answers to the first three sections contain clues to the fourth section.<ref>{{cite web|author=Zetter, Kim|authorlink=Kim Zetter|url=http://www.wired.com/news/technology/1,70701-1.html |title=Typo Confounds Kryptos Sleuths |publisher=[[Wired.com]] |date=April 20, 2006 |accessdate=2011-11-12}}</ref>
In November 2010, Sanborn released a clue, publicly stating that "NYPVTT", the 64th-69th letters in part four, become "BERLIN" after decryption.<ref>{{cite web|last=Schwartz |first=John |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/us/21code.html?hp |title=Artist releases clue to Kryptos |publisher=Nytimes.com |date=2010-11-20 |accessdate=2011-11-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=''[[All Things Considered]]'' |url=http://www.npr.org/2010/11/22/131520768/-kryptos-sculptor-drops-new-clue-in-20-year-mystery |title='Kryptos' Sculptor Drops New Clue In 20-Year Mystery |publisher=NPR |date= |accessdate=2011-11-12}}</ref>
 
Sanborn gave ''The New York Times'' another clue in November 2014: the letters "MZFPK", the 70th-74th letters in part four, become "CLOCK" after decryption.<ref>{{cite web|title=A New Clue to ‘Kryptos’|url=http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/21/science/new-clue-to-kryptos.html|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=21 November 2014|date=20 November 2014}}</ref> The 74th letter is K in both the plaintext and ciphertext, meaning that it is possible for a character to encrypt to itself. This means it does not have a weakness, where a character could never be encrypted as itself, that was known to be inherent in the German [[Enigma machine]]. It is believed that the "BERLINCLOCK" plaintext may be a direct reference to the [[Mengenlehreuhr|Berlin Clock]].
 
Sanborn further stated that in order to solve section 4, "You'd better delve into that particular clock," but added, "There are several really interesting clocks in Berlin."<ref name="berlinclock">{{cite web|agency=New York Times|title=Sculptor Offers Another Clue in 24-Year-Old Mystery at C.I.A.|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/us/another-kryptos-clue-is-offered-in-a-24-year-old-mystery-at-the-cia.html|last=Schwartz|first=John|date=November 20, 2014|accessdate=November 22, 2014}}</ref>
 
== Related sculptures ==
''Kryptos'' was the first cryptographic sculpture made by Sanborn.
 
After producing ''Kryptos'' he went on to make several other sculptures with codes and other types of writing, including one entitled ''[[Antipodes (sculpture)|Antipodes]]'', which is at the [[Hirshhorn Museum]] in Washington, D.C., an "Untitled Kryptos Piece" that was sold to a private collector, and ''[[Cyrillic Projector]]'' which contains encrypted [[Cyrillic script|Russian Cyrillic]] text that included an extract from a classified [[KGB]] document.
 
The cipher on one side of ''Antipodes'' repeats the text from ''Kryptos''. Much of the cipher on Antipodes' other side is duplicated on ''Cyrillic Projector''. The Russian portion of the cipher found on ''Cyrillic Projector'' and ''Antipodes'' was solved in 2003 by Frank Corr and Mike Bales independently from each other with translation from Russian plaintext provided by Elonka Dunin.<ref>[http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol302/issue5643/r-samples.dtl Cyrillic Riddle Solved] [[Science (journal)|Science]], vol 302, 10 Oct. 2003, page 224</ref>
 
''Ex Nexum'' was installed in 1997 at [http://www.gsa.gov/fa/#/building/266 Little Rock Old U.S. Post Office & Courthouse]
 
Some additional sculptures by Sanborn include Native American texts: ''Rippowam<ref name="rippowam">{{cite web|url=http://www.ctmuseumquest.com/?page_id=5425|title=127. UConn Public Art Collection (8 of 30)|work=ctmuseumquest.com}}</ref>'' was installed at the [[University of Connecticut]], in [[Stamford, Connecticut|Stamford]] in 1999, while ''[[Lux (sculpture)|Lux]]'' was installed in 2001 at an old [[US Post Office]] building in [[Fort Myers, Florida]].<ref name="jimsanborn">{{cite web|url=http://jimsanborn.net/main.html#publicartwork|title=Jim Sanborn: The Artist's Official Site|work=jimsanborn.net}}</ref>
 
''Indian Run'' is located next to the US Federal Courthouse in [[Beltsville, Maryland]] and contains a bronze cylinder perforated with the text of the [[Iroquois]] Book of the Great Law.
This document includes the contribution of the indigenous peoples to the United States legal system.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/hconres331.pdf | accessdate=2008-11-23 | title=H. Con. Res. 331, October 21, 1988 | publisher=United States Senate}}</ref>
The text is written in Onondaga and was transcribed from the ancient oral tradition of five Iroquois nations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://elonka.com/kryptos/sanborn/IndianRunPark.html|title=Sanborn's Indian Run  Artwork|work=elonka.com}}</ref>
 
''[[A,A|A Comma, A]]'' was installed at the Plaza in front of the new library at the [[University of Houston]], in [[Houston, TX]] in 2004, and ''Radiance'' was installed at the Department of Energy, Coast, and Environment, [[LSU|Louisiana State University]], [[Baton Rouge, LA|Baton Rouge]] in 2008.<ref name="jimsanborn" />
 
== Pop culture references ==
The dust jacket of the US version of [[Dan Brown]]'s novel ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'' contains two references to ''Kryptos'' - one on the back cover (coordinates printed light red on dark red, vertically next to the blurbs) is a reference to the coordinates mentioned in the plaintext of part 2 (see above), except the degrees digit is off by one. When Brown and his publisher were asked about this, they both gave the same reply: "The discrepancy is intentional".  The coordinates were part of the first clue of the second [[The Da Vinci Code WebQuests|''Da Vinci Code'' WebQuest]], the first answer being Kryptos. The other reference is hidden in the brown "tear" artwork—upside-down words which say "Only WW knows", which is another reference to the second message on Kryptos.<ref name="FAQ">{{cite web|url=http://elonka.com/kryptos/faq.html |title=FAQ About Kryptos |publisher=Elonka.com |date= |accessdate=2011-11-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05147/511693.stm|title=CIA sculpture 'kryptos' draws mystery lovers|date=May 27, 2005|work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]|accessdate=December 11, 2011|author=McKinnon, John D.}}</ref>
 
''Kryptos'' features in Dan Brown's 2009 novel ''[[The Lost Symbol]]''.<ref name=secrets>''Secrets of the Lost Symbol'', pp.319–326</ref>
 
A small version of ''Kryptos'' appears in the season 5 episode of ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', "[[Alias episodes (Season 5)#S.O.S.|S.O.S.]]". In it, [[Marshall Flinkman]], in a small moment of comic relief, says he has cracked the code just by looking at it during a tour visit to the CIA office. The solution he describes sounds like the solution to the first two parts.
 
A picture of ''Kryptos'' appears in the season 2 episode of ''[[The King of Queens]]'', "[[List of The King of Queens episodes#Season 2: 1999–2000|Meet By-Product]]". A framed pictured of Kryptos hangs on the wall by the door.
 
The progressive metal band [[Between the Buried and Me]] has a reference to ''Kryptos'' in their song "Obfuscation" from their 2009 album, ''[[The Great Misdirect]]''.
 
A sculpture looking very similar to ''Kryptos'' is seen during a scene in the season 2 episode of ''[[Homeland (TV series)|Homeland]]'', "[[New Car Smell (Homeland)|New Car Smell]]". In it, [[Carrie Mathison]] and [[Nicholas Brody]] run into each other in front of the CIA office and various shots place the sculpture between them as they converse.
 
== Notes ==
{{reflist|30em}}
 
== References ==
 
=== Books ===
*{{cite book|title=Atomic Time: Pure Science and Seduction|year=2003|isbn=0-88675-072-5|author=Jonathan Binstock and Jim Sanborn}} (contains 1–2 pages about Kryptos)
*{{cite book|authorlink=Elonka Dunin|author=Dunin, Elonka|title=The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms|year=2006|page=500|publisher=[[Constable & Robinson]]|isbn=0-7867-1726-2}}
*{{cite book|title=Secrets of the Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code Sequel|editors=Daniel Burstein & Arne de Keijzer (editors)|author=Dunin, Elonka|publisher=[[Harper Collins]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-06-196495-4|chapter=Kryptos: The Unsolved Enigma|pages=319–326}}
*{{cite book|title=Secrets of the Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code Sequel|editors=Daniel Burstein & Arne de Keijzer (editors)|author=Dunin, Elonka|publisher=[[Harper Collins]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-06-196495-4|chapter=Art, Encryption, and the Preservation of Secrets: An interview with Jim Sanborn|pages=294–300}}
*{{cite book|title=Illustrated Guide to the Lost Symbol|editor=John Weber (ed.)|author=Taylor, Greg|isbn=978-1-4165-2366-6|year=2009|chapter=Decoding ''Kryptos''|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]}}
 
=== Articles ===
* [https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/headquarters-tour/kryptos/flash-movie-text.html ''Kryptos'' 1,735 Alphabetical letters]
* [http://www.ussrback.com/crypto/nsa/kryptos/cia-art-jg.htm "Gillogly Cracks CIA Art", & "The Kryptos Code Unmasked"], 1999, ''[[New York Times]]'' and [[Cypherpunk]]s archive
* "Unlocking the secret of ''Kryptos''", March 17, 2000, ''Sun Journal''
* [http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,66334,00.html "Solving the Enigma of Kryptos"], January 26, 2005, ''[[Wired magazine|Wired]]'', by [[Kim Zetter]]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,,1504223,00.html "Interest grows in solving cryptic CIA puzzle after link to ''Da Vinci Code''"], June 11, 2005, ''[[The Guardian]]''
* [http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/19/cracking.the.code/index.html "Cracking the Code"], June 19, 2005, [[CNN]]
* [http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-05/ff_kryptos Mission Impossible: The Code Even the CIA Can't Crack]
 
== See also == <!-- Please respect alphabetical order -->
* [[A,A]]
* [[Copiale cipher]]
* [[History of cryptography]]
* [[Voynich manuscript]]
 
== External links == <!-- Please respect order of relevance-->
{{Commons category|Kryptos}}
 
* [http://jimsanborn.net/main.html#KRYPTOS/ Jim Sanborn's official Kryptos webpage] by [[Jim Sanborn]]
* [http://www.elonka.com/kryptos ''Kryptos''] website maintained by [[Elonka Dunin]] (includes [http://www.elonka.com/kryptos/faq.html Kryptos FAQ], [http://www.elonka.com/kryptos/transcript.html transcript], pictures and links)
* [http://www.voynich.net/Kryptos/ Kryptos photos] by [[Jim Gillogly]]
 
 
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/july99/kryptos19.htm Washington Post : Cracking the Code of a CIA Sculpture]
* [http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/07/nsa-cracked-kryptos-before-cia Wired : Documents Reveal How the NSA Cracked the Kryptos Sculpture Years Before the CIA]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3411/03.html PBS : Segment (Video) on Kryptos from Nova ScienceNow]
 
 
* [http://www.gsa.gov/fa/#/artwork/23717 The General Services Administration Kryptos webpage]
* [http://www.gsa.gov/fa/#/artwork/23676  The General Services Administration Ex Nexum webpage]
* [http://www.gsa.gov/fa/#/artwork/23676  The General Services Administration Indian Run webpage]
* [http://www.gsa.gov/fa/#/artwork/20294  The General Services Administration Binary Systems webpage]
 
 
* [https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/headquarters-tour/kryptos  The Central Intelligence Agency Kryptos webpage]
* [https://www.nsa.gov/public_info/declass/cia_kryptos_sculpture.shtml  The National Security Agency Kryptos webpage]
 
 
* [http://www.thekryptosproject.com/ The Kryptos Project by Julie "Jewlee" Irena Lann]
* [http://www.sfu.ca/~nicolea/kryptos/ Nicole (Monet) Friedrich's Kryptos Observations]
* [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/pf008/kryptos/index.htm&date=2009-10-26+05:14:13 Patrick Foster's ''Kryptos'' page]
 
=== Aerial photos of ''Kryptos'' location ===
* [http://msrmaps.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=18&X=1570&Y=21568&W=2&qs=|langley|virginia  USGS aerial image of McLean, Virginia]
* [https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.952273,-77.1457&spn=0.008592,0.005932&t=k Google Maps]
* [https://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.951805555555552+-77.145555555555561&t=h&hl=en The location referred to in the part 2 cleartext (Google Maps)] - approximately 150 feet southeast of the ''Kryptos'' sculpture.
 
 
{{coord| 38.952255|-77.145773|region:US_type:landmark_scale:500|display=title}}
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