Elonka Dunin - Cryptography

Cryptography

Dunin has written books and articles about cryptography, and been interviewed on radio and television about related subjects such as Kryptos, the Smithy Code, and Ricky McCormick's encrypted notes. In an interview with GIGnews.com, Dunin said that in the year 2000 she cracked the PhreakNIC v3.0 Code, an amateur cryptographic puzzle created by a hacker group, and that this launched her public interest in high-profile ciphers. Because of the location of Kryptos on CIA grounds, physical access to the sculpture is restricted. According to Wired News, in 2002, Dunin gave a presentation to CIA analysts about steganography and Al-Qaeda, and "n 2002, Dunin was one of the lucky few who saw in person", and "she also made rubbings of the text". Based on her visit, she launched the beginnings of what became a comprehensive website about the sculpture, and also became co-moderator of a Yahoo Group that is attempting to decipher the encrypted messages on the sculpture. In 2003, Dunin organized a team which solved the ciphers on Kryptos's sister sculpture, the Cyrillic Projector.

When Kryptos sculptor Jim Sanborn chose to release information about an error on the sculpture in 2006, he contacted Dunin to make the announcement. In July 2007, Dunin appeared on the PBS program NOVA scienceNOW, as an expert on Kryptos, and in 2009, contributed two articles about the sculpture for the book Secrets of The Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code Sequel. a companion book to author Dan Brown's novel The Lost Symbol. Dunin had assisted Brown with the research for the novel, and Brown named a character in the novel after her. The character "Nola Kaye" is an anagrammed form of "Elonka".

In 2006, Dunin compiled a book of several hundred exercises in classical cryptography, which was published in the United States as The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms, and in the UK as The Mammoth Book of Secret Code Puzzles. The book also includes a few details about several unsolved codes, such as Kryptos.