Central Washington University | Challenge 3

Academics
Math
Kryptos Challenges
Challenge 3 - 2012

Challenge 3 - 2012

We are pretty sure that Carolyn Gordon is using her position on a high ranking committee to profit from information she receives regarding various publicly traded stocks. While she herself is not overtly involved in any trading, we believe she is selling her information to several acquaintances that have made several recent trades which are highly suspicious. After obtaining a search warrant, thorough searches were conducted at Ms. Gordon’s residence as well as her suspected collaborators. One collaborator, a Mr. Raphael Cotrez, had some torn pieces of paper on a pile of rubbish next to his fireplace. Forensics determined that the pieces fit together into two strips. Yet, the letters on the assembled strips is meaningless to us:

Slip 1: YQDHvuhGTIokirdceiqlsZQCsfwPTWcytfupyja

Slip 2: lpnngafplvnnclnyhYOGgpcwefxzgjacouccdtbhTAZHi

While it was almost missed in the search, a portion of Ms. Gordon’s diary was also found. Some of the entries make it pretty clear that she was probably plotting some illegal behavior, but the evidence is pretty weak at this point. However, the strange text found in Mr. Cotrez’s apartment was also found in Ms. Gordon’s diary, albeit with a few extra spaces between the letters. This clearly links the two! We are now working under the assumption that the strange letters are some sort of code or cipher. All we need is to figure out how to decode these messages and hope that they clearly point to insider trading violations. Can you help us? A copy of Gordon’s diary is attached to this note. Time is of the essence as we do not have enough evidence to hold Gordon past the weekend, but we feel that if she thinks we’re close, she’ll flee the country.

Copy of Gordon's Diary