Creator of Kryptos artwork at CIA headquarters provides final clue to puzzle

The artist behind the Kryptos statue at CIA headquarters has provided one final clue to cracking the encryption of the text. The fourth passage of the text has not been cracked since the installation of the work, almost thirty years ago.

Since the unveiling of Kryptos, Greek for ‘hidden’, cryptanalysts are trying to unravel the texts hidden behind the string of 869 characters on the artwork that was placed in November 1990. The sequence consists of four different passages and in 1999 it was publicly disclosed by a hobbyist who had cracked the first three passages. Subsequently, the CIA and the NSA announced that employees of those services had already found the solution to these parts internally. The first and second part are based on a Vigenère cipher, the encryption of the third passage is based on transposition.

Source: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0

The fourth part of the text is the shortest at 97 characters and has so far resisted public decipherment. The creator of the artwork, Jim Sanborn, has given some hints in recent years. For example, he said that answers to the first three passages contain clues about the fourth part. In 2010 he said that the characters NYPVTT stood for BERLIN and in 2014 he revealed that MZFPK stands for CLOCK. Then he gave the hint that a certain clock was meant and against Wired he said he has a certain fascination with the Berlin Ur or Mengenlehreuhr has. This shows the time based on the illumination of a number of lamps in different colours.

Mengenlehreuhr which shows the time 10:31. Source: Wikimedia, Muritatis (Public Domain)

This week, Sanborn announced a new lead opposite The New York Times; the characters in spaces 26 through 34 represent NORTHEAST. The artist is now 74 years old and does not want to spend the rest of his life judging submissions for solutions. He says that if the solution is not found before his death, it will eventually be auctioned. Proceeds will go to climate research.