It is possible to extract a 'hidden' word from K2 that Sanborn may have inserted intentionally. What could we learn about K4 from this? Or is it just a coincidence?
In Part 6-b, i want to show another finding from years ago, which probably many people didnt know. It is about K2. Below you see on the left the ciphertext (I) as it can be found on the Kryptos statue. Decoding it with "ABSCISSA", yields the plaintext (I) on the right.
K2 ciphertext (I)
VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE
GGWHKK?DQMCPFQZDQMMIAGPFXHQRLG
TIMVMZJANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPJUNGEUNA
QZGZLECGYUXUEENJTBJLBQCRTBJDFHRR
YIZETKZEMVDUFKSJHKFWHKUWQLSZFTI
HHDDDUVH?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE
EVLDKFEZMOQQJLTTUGSYQPFEUNLAVIDX
FLGGTEZ?FKZBSFDQVGOGIPUFXHHDRKF
FHQNTGPUAECNUVPDJMQCLQUMUNEDFQ
ELZZVRRGKFFVOEEXBDMVPNFQXEZLGRE
DNQFMPNZGLFLPMRJQYALMGNUVPDXVKP
DQUMEBEDMHDAFMJGZNUPLGEWJLLAETG
|
K2 plaintext (I) ITWASTOTALLYINVISIBLEHOWSTHATPO SSIBLE?THEYUSEDTHEEARTHSMAGNET ICFIELDXTHEINFORMATIONWASGATHER EDANDTRANSMITTEDUNDERGRUUNDTOANU NKNOWNLOCATIONXDOESLANGLEYKNOWA BOUTTHIS?THEYSHOULDITSBURIEDOUT THERESOMEWHEREXWHOKNOWSTHEEXACTL OCATION?ONLYWWTHISWASHISLASTMES SAGEXTHIRTYEIGHTDEGREESFIFTYSE VENMINUTESSIXPOINTFIVESECONDSNO RTHSEVENTYSEVENDEGREESEIGHTMINU TESFORTYFOURSECONDSWESTIDBYROWS |
This was the commonly accepted plaintext for many years. Until Jim Sanborn told the community to say that it was incorrect. He was actually surprised that the term 'IDBYROWS' was readable. He explained that he had removed the letter 'S' from the ciphertext for aesthetic reasons, which is supported by this picture i found on the Reddit forum [1] about Kryptos. You can see [click on the image to enlarge] that he marked the 'S' and wrote "Could take out" pointing on the 'S'.
Sanborn thought the deletion would result in a set of eight meaningless letters, and was surprised [really?] that this was not the case. To obtain the correct plaintext, the letter 'S' must be reinserted between 'G' and 'W' in the final row. This transforms the fragment "ID BY ROWS" into another set of legible words. Note, this is similar to the solution for the Pre-K mini sculpture to turn the last meaningless plaintext letters into (partly) readable english, see here.
K2 ciphertext (II) VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE GGWHKK?DQMCPFQZDQMMIAGPFXHQRLG TIMVMZJANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPJUNGEUNA QZGZLECGYUXUEENJTBJLBQCRTBJDFHRR YIZETKZEMVDUFKSJHKFWHKUWQLSZFTI HHDDDUVH?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE EVLDKFEZMOQQJLTTUGSYQPFEUNLAVIDX FLGGTEZ?FKZBSFDQVGOGIPUFXHHDRKF FHQNTGPUAECNUVPDJMQCLQUMUNEDFQ ELZZVRRGKFFVOEEXBDMVPNFQXEZLGRE DNQFMPNZGLFLPMRJQYALMGNUVPDXVKP DQUMEBEDMHDAFMJGZNUPLGESWJLLAETG |
K2 plaintext (II) ITWASTOTALLYINVISIBLEHOWSTHATPO SSIBLE?THEYUSEDTHEEARTHSMAGNET ICFIELDXTHEINFORMATIONWASGATHER EDANDTRANSMITTEDUNDERGRUUNDTOANU NKNOWNLOCATIONXDOESLANGLEYKNOWA BOUTTHIS?THEYSHOULDITSBURIEDOUT THERESOMEWHEREXWHOKNOWSTHEEXACTL OCATION?ONLYWWTHISWASHISLASTMES SAGEXTHIRTYEIGHTDEGREESFIFTYSE VENMINUTESSIXPOINTFIVESECONDSNO RTHSEVENTYSEVENDEGREESEIGHTMINU TESFORTYFOURSECONDSWESTXLAYERTWO |
With the insertion of "S" in the ciphertext the nine characters now decrypt to "X LAYER TWO". The "X" fits perfectly to the other text fragments.
The word ASTATOS
Now observe what happens if we now mark every appearance of "X" in the plaintext. With the newly gained "X" there are seven in total. Concurrently we mark every corresponding ciphertext letter on the right, that decrypt to one of the "X"s.
K2 ciphertext (II) VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE GGWHKK?DQMCPFQZDQMMIAGPFXHQRLG TIMVMZJANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPJUNGEUNA QZGZLECGYUXUEENJTBJLBQCRTBJDFHRR YIZETKZEMVDUFKSJHKFWHKUWQLSZFTI HHDDDUVH?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE EVLDKFEZMOQQJLTTUGSYQPFEUNLAVIDX FLGGTEZ?FKZBSFDQVGOGIPUFXHHDRKF FHQNTGPUAECNUVPDJMQCLQUMUNEDFQ ELZZVRRGKFFVOEEXBDMVPNFQXEZLGRE DNQFMPNZGLFLPMRJQYALMGNUVPDXVKP DQUMEBEDMHDAFMJGZNUPLGESWJLLAETG |
K2 plaintext (II) - Marked X ITWASTOTALLYINVISIBLEHOWSTHATPO SSIBLE?THEYUSEDTHEEARTHSMAGNET ICFIELDXTHEINFORMATIONWASGATHER EDANDTRANSMITTEDUNDERGRUUNDTOANU NKNOWNLOCATIONXDOESLANGLEYKNOWA BOUTTHIS?THEYSHOULDITSBURIEDOUT THERESOMEWHEREXWHOKNOWSTHEEXACTL OCATION?ONLYWWTHISWASHISLASTMES SAGEXTHIRTYEIGHTDEGREESFIFTYSE VENMINUTESSIXPOINTFIVESECONDSNO RTHSEVENTYSEVENDEGREESEIGHTMINU TESFORTYFOURSECONDSWESTXLAYERTWO |
If you read all read letters on the left from top to the bottom you get the word
Collected from ciphertext letters at positions where plaintext = “X”.
It is an Greek word, similar to "KRYPTOS", has also seven characters and the following meaning:
άστατος • (ástatos) m (feminine άστατη, neuter άστατο)
- unstable, unsteady; Synonym: ασταθής (astathís)
- changeable, fickle, volatile
- (physics) having no particular directional characteristics
I don't know what to make of this word, but I think it could very plausibly be part of the hidden message. However, it could also be a coincidence. It is notable that
the keyword "ABSCISSA" for K2 can be treated as a hint to look at the 'X'. It is the old word for the X-coordinate in a coordinate system. So the keyword itself may provide a clue as to how to find another hidden message within a message. Then I started pondering. How easy would it be to generate such a setup? What degrees of freedom are there for the involved words?
K2 ciphertext + Keyword ABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISS VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE AABSCI*SSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSC GGWHKK?DQMCPFQZDQMMIAGPFXHQRLG ISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABS TIMVMZJANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPJUNGEUNA CISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABS QZGZLECGYUXUEENJTBJLBQCRTBJDFHRR CISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAAB YIZETKZEMVDUFKSJHKFWHKUWQLSZFTI SCISSAAB*SCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSA HHDDDUVH?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE ABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSA EVLDKFEZMOQQJLTTUGSYQPFEUNLAVIDX ABSCISS*AABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCIS FLGGTEZ?FKZBSFDQVGOGIPUFXHHDRKF SAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSC FHQNTGPUAECNUVPDJMQCLQUMUNEDFQ ISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSC ELZZVRRGKFFVOEEXBDMVPNFQXEZLGRE CISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAAB DNQFMPNZGLFLPMRJQYALMGNUVPDXVKP SCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAAB DQUMEBEDMHDAFMJGZNUPLGESWJLLAETG |
K2 plaintext (II) + Keyword ABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISS ITWASTOTALLYINVISIBLEHOWSTHATPO AABSCI*SSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSC SSIBLE?THEYUSEDTHEEARTHSMAGNET ISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABS ICFIELDXTHEINFORMATIONWASGATHER CISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABS EDANDTRANSMITTEDUNDERGRUUNDTOANU CISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAAB NKNOWNLOCATIONXDOESLANGLEYKNOWA SCISSAAB*SCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSA BOUTTHIS?THEYSHOULDITSBURIEDOUT ABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSA THERESOMEWHEREXWHOKNOWSTHEEXACTL ABSCISS*AABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCIS OCATION?ONLYWWTHISWASHISLASTMES SAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSC SAGEXTHIRTYEIGHTDEGREESFIFTYSE ISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABS VENMINUTESSIXPOINTFIVESECONDSNO CISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAAB RTHSEVENTYSEVENDEGREESEIGHTMINU SCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAAB TESFORTYFOURSECONDSWESTXLAYERTWO |
I laid the keyword above the plaintext and ciphertext lines. You can see what letters of the keyword are responsible for what plaintext/ciphertext mapping. Then you realize,
to make this work, you have the following requirement:
If we define with $\mathsf{Enc}(\cdot,\cdot)$ the Quagmire-3 cipher over a given keyed-alphabet, with two inputs: keyword, plaintext.
Let $\mathbf{K}$ be the chosen keyword [in Sanborns case "ABSCISSA"] and $\mathbf{X}$ be the plaintext string that only consists of the letter 'X' and has equal length to $\mathbf{K}$.
Let $\mathsf{Enc}(\mathbf{K},\mathbf{X}) \rightarrow \mathbf{C}$, whereof $\mathbf{C}$ is the resulting ciphertext. Then all words that can be created out of the letters
from $\mathbf{C}$ (with repetition allowed, since multiple 'X'’s may map to the same ciphertext letter) can be used for this setup.
So you are limited. You can not embedd a specifc word if the keyword is already fixed. It must somehow fit together. In other words, the keyword fixes which ciphertext letters are even available at X-positions. Any embedded word must be composed solely of those letters.
E.g. $$\mathsf{Enc}(\mathsf{``ABSCISSA``},\mathsf{``XXXXXXXX``}) \rightarrow \mathsf{``OSTAGTTO``}$$ The output contains all characters for the word "ASTATOS". Now take the word "ORDINATE":
$$\mathsf{Enc}(\mathsf{``ORDINATE``},\mathsf{``XXXXXXXX``}) \rightarrow \mathsf{``PZBGLOYC``}$$ It could be used to generate the word "POLY", since is buildable from the ciphertext letters "PZBGLOYC". But it could not be used to create the word "ASTATOS". To generate the actual plaintext, if you are not limited in the number of letters, is not that hard. You just have to ensure that the first 'X' is encrypted with 'O', the second with 'A', then 'N' and 'T' (from the key "ORDINATE").
I crafted a little example shown below (using keyword "ORDINATE" and Kryptos Quagmire-3):
NFRSXCCSPDLBUFZZJBED ZOHMXHUJLVBBFALPXHY |
HELLOYOUXCANYOUHEARU SXDANGERXITWASAHOAX |
You can see, the word "POLY" occurs on the ciphertext side at all positions with an "X" in the plaintext. This demonstrates that such an embedding does not require extraordinary constraints — only careful placement of X’s and "carefully-chosen wording".
Consequences for K1
Sanborn once said [Elonka's Roadtrip]:
It might be possible that he chose the words such that parts of it form some kind of Palimpsest. So the keyword is probably again a hint (like "ABSCISSA" to look at the 'X'). On the same roadtrip he stated
I don't know exactly what is meant with "the original matrix" or with "shifts" - but i think there might be something we missed in K1. If I had to bet, I would put $100 on the idea that there is some hidden second message or word in K1.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/KryptosK4/comments/1p69qw6/k1_duress_code_rayout/
No comments:
Post a Comment