Celebrating ten years of KRYPTOS: a series of cryptanalysis

Abstract

The KRYPTOS competition is an annual codebreaking competition for undergraduates. Debuting in 2011 with 49 participants from three states, after nine years we have seen over 1,000 students from 32 states and seven different countries. KRYPTOS will hold its tenth competition in April of 2020. Here we present some of the puzzles participants have found most elusive and challenge you to beat the clock on our fastest solver.

Keywords:

• competition
• cryptanalysis
• cryptologic outreach
• undergraduate
• KRYPTOS

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Pacific Northwest section of the Mathematical Association of America for their support of KRYPTOS.

About the authors

Cheryl Beaver is a Professor in the mathematics department at Western Oregon University. Prior to Western, Cheryl worked for seven years as a cryptographer at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her interests lie in number theory, cryptology and the education of pre-service elementary and middle school teachers.

Stuart Boersma is a Professor and former Chair of the Department of Mathematics at Central Washington University. He enjoys writing expository mathematics papers and received the 2005 Trevor Evans Award from the Mathematics Association of America.