Outside the   Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) home office in Langley , Virginia , there is   a 3.7 - meter ( 12 - foot ) tall copper scroll covered in seemingly derisory letters , known as Kryptos .

The puzzler , designed by   Jim Sanborn , has gone unresolved for over three decades   – despite campaign from net sleuth , the NSA , and the CIA itself , who get to see the carving every 24-hour interval on their commute . Three of four passages hidden on the puzzle have been decrypted , but one remains problematic .

Here ’s what we sleep together / don’t have sex so far .

Passage one

This passage turned out to use a   Vigenère cipher , a way of write in code text using two Caesar cipher   – which is a simple method of encoding that shifts letters to begin with or subsequently in the alphabet   – interweave together .

The keywords used for this null were " Kryptos " and " Palimpsest " .   First , the word Kryptos is placed at the top of a storage-battery grid ( see video below ) with   Palimpsest beneath the K lead downwards . After Kryptos , the rudiment is continued in alphabetic order , skipping any of the letters within the word Kryptos .

This is continue on the subsequent lines , set forth from the letter in the word Palimpsest .

Then to   decipher the first varsity letter of the transit   – in this case , an E   – you scroll across the first note until you find an E , then go up to the top to reveal what it should be   – in this case , the letter B. The same principle continues for the rest of the text , finally giving you the subject matter ( with a careful literal ):

BETWEEN SUBTLE SHADING AND THE absence seizure OF LIGHT LIES THE NUANCE OF IQLUSION

Passage two

This passage used the same encoding method acting as the first passage but with the keywords " Kryptos " and " Abscissa " . When decode , it translated to text and coordinates :

IT WAS TOTALLY INVISIBLE HOWS THAT POSSIBLE ? THEY USED THE ground MAGNETIC FIELD X THE INFORMATION WAS GATHERED AND air UNDERGRUUND TO AN UNKNOWN LOCATION X DOES Samuel Pierpoint Langley KNOW ABOUT THIS ? THEY SHOULD ITS BURIED OUT THERE SOMEWHERE X WHO live THE EXACT placement ? ONLY WW THIS WAS HIS LAST substance X THIRTY EIGHT grade FIFTY SEVEN minute SIX POINT FIVE SECONDS NORTH SEVENTY SEVEN DEGREES EIGHT mo FORTY FOUR SECONDS western United States X LAYER TWO

Passage three :

transit 3 was solved using two methods of transposition ( a ripe explanation of whichcan be found here ) . The last content was :

SLOWLY DESPARATLY SLOWLY THE REMAINS OF passing DEBRIS THAT restrain THE LOWER PART OF THE DOORWAY WAS REMOVED WITH tremble HANDS I MADE A TINY BREACH IN THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER AND THEN WIDENING THE HOLE A LITTLE I insert THE CANDLE AND PEERED IN THE HOT AIR ESCAPING FROM THE CHAMBER do THE fire TO FLICKER BUT PRESENTLY DETAILS OF THE way WITHIN EMERGED FROM THE MIST X CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING Q ?

more or less pleasingly , the message is a slightly altered relaying of Howard Carter ’s score ofopening Tutankhamun ’s tomb in 1922 .

Passage four :

Theunsolved passagereads :

NGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLOHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLPIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMQJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNRLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQSMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUTNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVUQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWVUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXWVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZXWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKYXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRZZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCD

So far , the substance persist enshroud , despite the creator revealing several hint . The first clew , divulge in 2006 , was that the first three passageswere cluesfor the last passage . Four years after , he break that " NYPVTT " , the 64th–⁠69th letters in passage four , becomes " BERLIN"when decrypted , before going on to reveal that   " MZFPK " ( the   70th–⁠74th letters)means"CLOCK " .

Still unsolved , he revealed that people should " search into that clock" . Stilltoo fiendish , he has gone on to reveal that   the missive   in positions 22–25read"FLRV " , as well as   a one - word ciphertext bring out " QQPRNGKSS " is the word " NORTHEAST " .

The fourth handing over , once solve , will unveil yet another riddle to be solved . Should nobody be able to crack the codification before his dying , Sanborn has revealed he will sell the solvent at auction , donating the money to climate skill . Given that it ’s been 30 years already , you might want to save up for the auction .