PN26-Elonka - Kryptos: The CIA’s (not‑so) Enduring Enigma

Update on the CIA’s encrypted sculpture, as the answer to the unsolved section, K4, will be in the middle of an online auction during October and November, with the final purchaser being announced on sculptor Jim Sanborn’s 80th birthday, just one week after PhreakNIC! Elonka will cover the sculpture’s history, its encryption systems, the dedication ceremony, and details about the ongoing auction. Bio: Elonka Dunin is a cryptographer, historian, puzzle creator, and professional game developer living in Washington, D.C. She is best known for her work on the world‑famous Kryptos sculpture at CIA headquarters, has authored or co‑written four books and numerous articles on codes and ciphers, and has given a TEDx talk. She was part of a winning team in the MIT Mystery Hunt, cracked the PhreakNIC v3.0 Code in 1999, and led the team that solved the Cyrillic Projector cipher in 2003, which revealed extracts of classified KGB documents. She authored The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms, published internationally with multiple re‑printings. Bestselling author Dan Brown honored her by naming a character in The Lost Symbol after her (“Nola Kaye” is an anagrammed form of “Elonka”), and she created a cipher puzzle that tied directly into the Penny Arcade webcomic. She is also a longtime Wikipedia editor and administrator, having written or expanded hundreds of articles, particularly on the Crusades and medieval history. More recently she has focused on Arctic exploration, researching maps, expeditions, and encrypted messages tied to the era of the lost Franklin expedition. Her talks blend puzzle‑solving, historical detective work, and engaging storytelling that shows how curiosity can unearth truths across centuries. Website: https://elonka.com/bio.html X: https://x.com/ElonkaDunin