Kryptos Secret cracked – Not by Codebreakers, But a Photographer’s Mistake
WASHINGTON D.C. โ- The decades-long mystery surrounding โคKryptos, the enigmatic sculpture containing encrypted messages created โby artist Jim Sanborn, โhasโค been solved – not through the tireless efforts โof intelligence โขagencies orโ dedicated hobbyists, but by anโค accidental inclusion of the plaintext โwithin photographs โtaken of the artwork. the revelation,published October 16,2025,in Theโข New York Times,stems from images capturedโค by photographerโ Byrne at the request of novelist David โคkobek,a friend of Sanborn’s,while โคdocumenting the sculpture ahead ofโ an auction.
For โ35 years, โKryptos, installed โขat CIA headquarters, โhas challengedโข the world’s best codebreakers. The sculpture features โfour โฃencrypted passages, three of which were solved in โthe โyears following its 1990 installation. The fourth, โฃa 97-character sequence, remained stubbornly resistant to decryption.
To Sanborn’s dismay, twoโ of Byrne’s photographs contained the complete, unencrypted text of the final passage – words Sanborn had previously discarded during the creation process. “The secret of โKryptosโ was out of the artist’s hands, in the most humiliatingโข way imaginable-Sanbornโข himself had mistakenly submitted it in readable form to the museum,” the artist โฃexplained.
The accidental reveal immediately threatened the planned auction of Kryptos and Sanborn’s artistic vision, โwhich centered on the very idea ofโค secrecy. Initial conversations between kobek,โฃ Byrne, and Sanborn were โขaimed at containing the facts. However, the โsituation quickly escalated when RR Auction proposed Kobek and Byrne sign non-disclosure โagreements and acceptโ a portion of the auction proceeds in exchange for their silence. Both menโข refused.
“They said, ‘listen, see if theโ guys will โคsign NDAs, and see if they’ll takeโค a portion โof the proceeds.’ And I said, ‘Oh geez,โฃ man, I don’t knowโค about that.But โคI offered it,'” Sanborn recounted. He then sought to have the โฃSmithsonian freeze its archives relatedโ toโฃ Kryptos, a request the institution honored.โ
Facing mounting legal threats โฃfrom the auction โขhouse’s โฃlawyers, Kobek contacted journalist Johnโข Schwartz of The Newโข York Times. “There was threatโ after threat being sent to us from the auction house’s lawyers,โ threatening to โฃsue us for a multitude of โคthings,” Kobek explained. Schwartz โคpublished the story revealingโค the plaintext,effectively โending the decades-long hunt.
While Schwartz confirmedโฃ he received the plaintext from Kobek,he stated he deleted the text from his interview files after his editors โคdecided not to include it in the article.”I don’t โฃknow it,” he said, requesting notโข to be further questioned.โฃ Kobek, citing โค”significant legalโฃ peril,”โฃ declined to comment on the โspecificsโ of his interaction with Schwartz. RR auction executive vice president Bobby Livingston acknowledged legal discussions were underway but declined to commentโ on โขthe NDA โproposal or potential copyright concerns.
