Slide 1

Solve This Cipher and Win!

and

An Examination of Some
Unsolved Ciphers

Michael “theprez98” Schearer

1
Slide 2

Introduction

2
Slide 3

Who am I, and
why am I here?

3
Slide 4

Michael “theprez98” Schearer

 Separated from nearly 9 years in the U.S.
Navy (flying aircraft)
 Currently working for a U.S. government
contractor in Maryland (flying a desk)
 Speaker at ShmooCon 2007 and 2008
 Contributing author to Penetration Tester's
Open Source Toolkit (Volume 2) Netcat
Power Tools and Kismet Hacking!
 Football coach and proud father of four

4
Slide 5

Michael “theprez98” Schearer

 Not a cryptographer! Just an amateur who is
fascinated by the application of mathematics
to real-world situations
 Not all ciphers are solved by skilled
cryptographers (as we will see)

5
Slide 6

Agenda

 Introduction
 Brief
History of Cryptography
 Examples of Solved Ciphers
 Unsolved Ciphers
 ShmooCipher
 Conclusions
 Questions & Answers

6
Slide 7

Brief History of
Cryptography

7
Slide 8

Early Examples
καὶ ἵνα μή τις δύνηται ἀγοράσαι ἢ πωλῆσαι εἰ μὴ ὁ ἔχων τὸ
χάραγμα, τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θηρίου ἢ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ ὀνόματος
αὐτοῦ. Ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν· ὁ ἔχων νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν
ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου· ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστί· καὶ ὁ
ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ χξϛʹ.

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the
mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the
number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his
number is Six hundred threescore and six.
-- Revelation 13:16-17
8
Slide 9

Hebrew Gematria
Nero Caesar
Neron Kaisar
NRWN QSR
N R W N Q S R
‫נ‬ ‫ר‬ ‫ו‬ ‫נ‬ ‫ק‬ ‫ס‬ ‫ר‬
50 200 6 50 100 60 200

50 + 200 + 6 + 50 + 100 + 60 + 200 = 666

9
Slide 10

Early Examples

10
Slide 11

Atbash Cipher
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N M L K J I H G F E D C B A

Sheshakh
Bavel is Hebrew for Babylon
11
Slide 12

Al-Kindi

Invented the cryptanalytic

technique of frequency
analysis for breaking mono-
alphabetic substitution ciphers

12
Slide 13

Polyalphabetic Substitution
 Leon Battista Alberti developed the
first polyalphabetic substitution
cipher circa 1467
 Strengthened ciphers against
frequency analysis attack
 Vigenère cipher is the best known
example
 Enigma performed a polyalphabetic
substitution (still some unsolved!)

13
Slide 14

The Gold-Bug
 Edgar Allen Poe story based around a
simple substitution cipher
 Won the grand prize in a writing contest
sponsored by the Philadelphia Dollar
Newspaper ($100!)
 Most popular and most-widely read of Poe’s
works during his lifetime
 A young William Friedman became
interested in cryptography after reading The
Gold-Bug
14
Slide 15

The Gold-Bug
53‡‡†305))6*;4826)4‡.)4‡);806*;48†8
¶60))85;1‡(;:‡*8†83(88)5*†;46(;88*96
*?;8)*‡(;485);5*†2:*‡(;4956*2(5*—4)8
¶8*;4069285);)6†8)4‡‡;1(‡9;48081;8:8‡
1;48†85;4)485†528806*81(‡9;48;88;4
(‡?34;48)4‡;161;:188;‡?;
A good glass in the bishop's hostel in the
devil's seat
forty-one degrees and thirteen minutes
northeast and by north
main branch seventh limb east side shoot from
the left eye of the death's-head
a bee line from the tree through the shot fifty
feet out. 15
Slide 16

Tap Code
 Based upon taps 1 2 3 4 5
Polybius Square 1 A B C/K D E
 C is used to 2 F G H I J
represent K 3 L M N O P
 Used by prisoners to
communicate (most 4 Q R S T U

famously U.S. 5 V W X Y Z
POWs in Vietnam)

16
Slide 17

Examples of Solved Ciphers

17
Slide 18

Poe Cryptographic Challenge

The soul secure in her existence smiles at the

drawn dagger and defies its point. The stars
shall fade away, the sun himself grow dim with
age and nature sink in years, but thou shalt
flourish in immortal youth, unhurt amid the war
of elements, the wreck of matter and the crush of
worlds.
--Joseph Addison, Cato 18
Slide 19

Poe Cryptographic Challenge

It was early spring, warm and sultry
glowed the afternoon. The very breezes
seemed to share the delicious langour of
universal nature, are laden the various
and mingled perfumes of the rose and the
–essaerne (?), the woodbine and its
wildflower. They slowly wafted their
fragrant offering to the open window
where sat the lovers. The ardent sun
shoot fell upon her blushing face and its
gentle beauty was more like the creation
of romance or the fair inspiration of a
dream than the actual reality on earth.
Tenderly her lover gazed upon her as the
clusterous ringlets were edged (?) by
amorous and sportive zephyrs and when he
perceived (?) the rude intrusion of the
sunlight he sprang to draw the curtain
but softly she stayed him. “No, no, dear
Charles,” she softly said, “much rather
you’ld I have a little sun than no air at
all.”
19
Slide 20

Smithy Code
 Came about as a result of the Da Vinci Code
plagiarism case
 Justice Peter Smith encoded a message into
the actual text of the judgment by italicizing
specific letters

s m i t h y c o d e J a e i e x t o s t
g
p s a c g r e a m q w f k a d p m q z v
-
20
Slide 21

Smithy Code
 The cipher is a Beaufort Variant of a
Vigenère polyalphabetic substitution cipher.
 The key is an alphabetic transposition of a
modified Fibonacci sequence

Jackie Fisher, who

are you? Dreadnought.

21
Slide 22

Unsolved Ciphers

22
Slide 23

Partial Solutions

23
Slide 24

Kryptos
 Created by artist James Sanborn (1990)
 Consulted with Ed Scheidt, former Chairman
of the CIA Cryptographic Center
 Three of four sections solved
– James Gilloghy (computer scientist, 1999)
– David Stein (CIA, 1998, not public at the time)
– Ken Miller, Dennis McDaniels and others (NSA,
1992, not public at the time)
 KRYPTOS Group coordinates actions of
attempts to solve the fourth section
24
Slide 25

K1 Ciphertext

EMUFPHZLRFAXYUSDJKZLDKRNSHGNFIVJ
YQTQUXQBQVYUVLLTREVJYQTMKYRDMFD

25
Slide 26

K1: Polyalphabetic Substitution

K R Y P T O S A B C D E F G H I J L M N Q U V W X Z
1 P T O S A B C D E F G H I J L M N Q U V W X Z K R Y
2 A B C D E F G H I J L M N Q U V W X Z K R Y P T O S
3 L M N Q U V W X Z K R Y P T O S A B C D E F G H I J
4 I J L M N Q U V W X Z K R Y P T O S A B C D E F G H
5 M N Q U V W X Z K R Y P T O S A B C D E F G H I J L
6 P T O S A B C D E F G H I J L M N Q U V W X Z K R Y
7 S A B C D E F G H I J L M N Q U V W X Z K R Y P T O
8 E F G H I J L M N Q U V W X Z K R Y P T O S A B C D
9 S A B C D E F G H I J L M N Q U V W X Z K R Y P T O
0 T O S A B C D E F G H I J L M N Q U V W X Z K R Y P

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
E M U F P H Z L R F
B E T W E E N S U B 26
Slide 27

K1 Solution

Between subtle shading and the

absence of light lies the nuance
of iqlusion.

27
Slide 28

K2 Ciphertext
VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE
GGWHKK?DQMCPFQZDQMMIAGPFXHQRLG
TIMVMZJANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPJUNGEUNA
QZGZLECGYUXUEENJTBJLBQCRTBJDFHRR
YIZETKZEMVDUFKSJHKFWHKUWQLSZFTI
HHDDDUVH?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE
EVLDKFEZMOQQJLTTUGSYQPFEUNLAVIDX
FLGGTEZ?FKZBSFDQVGOGIPUFXHHDRKF
FHQNTGPUAECNUVPDJMQCLQUMUNEDFQ
ELZZVRRGKFFVOEEXBDMVPNFQXEZLGRE
DNQFMPNZGLFLPMRJQYALMGNUVPDXVKP
DQUMEBEDMHDAFMJGZNUPLGEWJLLAETG

28
Slide 29

K2 Solution
It was totally invisible Hows that
possible? They used the Earths magnetic field
X
The information was gathered and transmitted
undergruund 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 2
29
Slide 30

K3 Ciphertext
ENDYAHROHNLSRHEOCPTEOIBIDYSHNAIA
CHTNREYULDSLLSLLNOHSNOSMRWXMNE
TPRNGATIHNRARPESLNNELEBLPIIACAE
WMTWNDITEENRAHCTENEUDRETNHAEOE
TFOLSEDTIWENHAEIOYTEYQHEENCTAYCR
EIFTBRSPAMHHEWENATAMATEGYEERLB
TEEFOASFIOTUETUAEOTOARMAEERTNRTI
BSEDDNIAAHTTMSTEWPIEROAGRIEWFEB
AECTDDHILCEIHSITEGOEAOSDDRYDLORIT
RKLMLEHAGTDHARDPNEOHMGFMFEUHE
ECDMRIPFEIMEHNLSSTTRTVDOHW?

30
Slide 31

K2 Solution

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

31
Slide 32

K4 Ciphertext

OBKR
UOXOGHULBSOLIFBBWFLRVQQPRNGKSSO
TWTQSJQSSEKZZWATJKLUDIAWINFBNYP
VTTMZFPKWGDKZXTJCDIGKUHUAUEKCAR

32
Slide 33

Partial Solutions

33
Slide 34

Solved Zodiac Cipher

I like killing people because

it is so much fun it is more
fun than killing wild game in
the forrest because man is the
most dangeroue anamal of all to
kill something… 34
Slide 35

Who Solved the Zodiac Cipher?

A. San Francisco Police Department
B. FBI
C. San Francisco Chronicle reporter
D. NSA

None of the above.

The first Zodiac Cipher was solved by a school

teacher, Donald Harden, and his wife
Bettye. 35
Slide 36

Unsolved Zodiac Cipher

36
Slide 37

Unsolved Zodiac Cipher

37
Slide 38

Unsolved Zodiac Cipher

38
Slide 39

Voynich Manuscript

39
Slide 40

Dorabella Cipher

40
Slide 41

d'Agapeyeff Cipher

75628 28591 62916 48164 91748 58464 74748 28483 81638 18174
74826 26475 83828 49175 74658 37575 75936 36565 81638 17585
75756 46282 92857 46382 75748 38165 81848 56485 64858 56382
72628 36281 81728 16463 75828 16483 63828 58163 63630 47481
91918 46385 84656 48565 62946 26285 91859 17491 72756 46575
71658 36264 74818 28462 82649 18193 65626 48484 91838 57491
81657 27483 83858 28364 62726 26562 83759 27263 82827 27283
82858 47582 81837 28462 82837 58164 75748 58162 92000

41
Slide 42

Beale Cipher 1/3

42
Slide 43

Beale Cipher 2/3

43
Slide 44

Beale Cipher 2/3

1
When 2in 3the 4Course 5of 6human 7events 8it
9
becomes 10necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which 20have
connected them with another and to assume
among the 30powers of the earth, the separate
and equal station to 40which the Laws of
Nature and of Nature's God entitle 50them, a
decent respect to the opinions of mankind
requires 60that they should declare the causes
which impel them to 70the separation.

44
Slide 45

Beale Cipher
I 115 HAVE 73 24 807 37 DEPOSITED 52 49 17 31
62 647 22 7 15 IN 140 47 THE 29 107 79 COUNTY
84 56 239 10 26 811 OF 5 196 BEDFORD 308 85 52
160 136 59 211…
I have deposited in the county of Bedford about fo[u]r miles from
Bufords in an e[x]cavation or vault si[x] feet below the surface of
the ground the following articles belonging jointly to the parties
whose names are given in number three herewith. The first deposit
consist[e]d of ten hundred and fourteen pounds of gold and thirty
eight hundred and twelve pounds of silver deposited Nov eighteen
nineteen. The second was made Dec eighteen twenty one and consisted
of nineteen hundred and seven pounds of gold and twelve hundred and
eighty eight of silver, also jewels obtained in St. Louis in
e[x]change to save transportation and valued at thirteen [t]housand
dollars. The above is securely packed i[n] [i]ron pots with iron
cov[e]rs. The vault is roughly lined with stone and th[e] vessels
rest on solid stone and are covered [w]ith others. Paper number one
describes th[e] e[x]act locality of the va[u]lt so that no difficulty
will be had in finding it.
45
Slide 46

Beale Cipher 3/3

46
Slide 47

Beale Ciphers
 Parts1 & 3 are as yet unsolved
 The modified DOI is the key to Part 2, but
doesn’t help with Parts 1 & 3
 There is a considerable body of scholarship
which lends to the belief that the Beale
Ciphers are an elaborate hoax

47
Slide 48

ShmooCipher

48
Slide 49

Stage 1

230 266 239 333 73 20 327

39 173 105 184 185 16 347
131 214 138 48 218 328 101
349 (9) (8) 33 346 28 260 142
167
Any ideas?
49
Slide 50

Stage 1
230 266 239 333 73 20 327 39 173 105 184 185 16 347 131
214 138 48 218 328 101 349 (9) (8) 33 346 28 260 142 167

Despite the application of high power computing, there

remains a body of unsolved ciphers that resist exploitation.
Some are (in)famous and others obscure, some may be
hoaxes and others yet to be discovered, but they share the
same fate: they have yet to be solved. This presentation will
review a number of unsolved ciphers as well as detail some
recent success stories as a means of spurring amateur
cryptographers to action.

50
Slide 51

Stage 1
D E S P I T E T H E A P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

P L I C A T I O N O F H
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

And so on…

51
Slide 52

Stage 1 Solution
230 266 239 333 73 20 327 39 173
w w w g e o c i t

105 184 185 16 347 131 214 138 48

i e s c o m t h e

218 328 101 349 (9) (8) 33 346 28

p r e (z) 9 8 c i p

260 142 167

h e r
52
Slide 53

Stage 1 Solution

wwwgeocitiescomtheprez98cipher

www.geocities.com/theprez98/cipher

53
Slide 54

Stage 2

You’re on your own from here!

54
Slide 55

Conclusions

55
Slide 56

Conclusions
 Cryptography weaves through history among
many disciplines, particularly religion and
warfare
 You don’t have to be a mathematician or
even very good at math! ;)
 Amateurs can make significant contributions
to solving ciphers
 You can contribute to distributed computing
efforts
56
Slide 57

References
 http://www.mechon-mamre.org
 http://www.bokler.com/eapoe.html
 http://filebox.vt.edu/users/batman/kryptos.html
 http://elonka.com
 http://www.zodiackiller.com

57
Slide 58

Questions & Answers

58