Comment by tptacek

Comment by tptacek 4 hours ago

5 replies

Do I understand part of the complexity of the situation is that Kryptos is in some sense "crackable" (unlike real cryptography), and these two people sleuthed their way to the answer book without solving it? Which is not quite exactly the same thing as them independently working out a solution; it's more like a nicer and more legal version of breaking into the guy's house and stealing it out of his desk drawer?

sgustard 2 hours ago

Can we even determine if what they found is the key, or just the plaintext? The article mentions they recognized bits of plaintext (Berlin clock) in the archives.

HPsquared 3 hours ago

"What we think intelligence agencies do" vs "what intelligence agencies actually do"

moron4hire 4 hours ago

At the state level, it's a method that is in bounds.

  • irjustin 20 minutes ago

    Yes, but all things considered, that's outside the bounds of this cypher - which is why "we all" feel cheated.

  • tptacek 3 hours ago

    I don't have an opinion! As a cryptography pentester, Kryptos has always kind of set my teeth on edge (Wikipedia had editors covering cryptography topics whose expertise was rooted in Kryptos puzzle-crypto). But one of the smartest people I know is also a Kryptos enthusiast so this is all very complicated for me.