CIA Sculpture Code

[lsanderson]

A Break for Code Breakers on a C.I.A. Mystery
By KENNETH CHANG

For nearly 16 years, puzzle enthusiasts have labored to decipher an 865-character coded message stenciled into a sculpture on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency's headquarters in Langley, Va. This week, the sculptor gave them an unsettling but hopeful surprise: part of the message they thought they had deciphered years ago actually says something else. More

Comments

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

This sounds like the plot of an episode of "Numb3rs" (a show I wanted to watch, having gotten a math degree, but have always forgotten to).

It's amazing that it's stayed undecrypted this long.

[gmcdavid.livejournal.com]

No, it is not. There is only a single short msg and apparently no clue what the system or the key might be. Under those circumstances a cipher can be very hard to break analytically. It can even be impossible if a "one-time pad" was used, although I think that would be unfair here.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

There is only a single short msg and apparently no clue what the system or the key might be. Under those circumstances a cipher can be very hard to break analytically.

True, but I'm thinking that 16 years is a long time considering a) the sculptor likely wanted it to be solvable, and b) the CIA is supposed to have the world's top experts in cryptography. Though I suppose they have better things to do than sit around and try to decrypt the sculpture in the lobby.

It can even be impossible if a "one-time pad" was used, although I think that would be unfair here.

Agreed.

[aelburr.livejournal.com]

I'm just suprised MIT or Stanford undergrads haven't made an issue of it and started using SC time on it yet.