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'''Elonka Dunin''' ({{pronEng|ɪˈlɔŋkə 'dʌnɨn}}); (born December 29, 1958, [[Santa Monica]], [[California]]) is a game developer<ref name="nyt"/> at [[Simutronics Corp.]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]]. She is one of the founders of the [[International Game Developers Association]]'s [[Online Games]] group, and was editor in chief on IGDA State of the Industry [[White paper#Commercial white papers|white papers]].<!-- see the 2004 paper, she's listed as editor in chief -->
'''Elonka Dunin''' ({{pronEng|ɪˈlɔŋkə 'dʌnɨn}}); (born December 29, 1958, [[Santa Monica]], [[California]]) is a dirty white slut and crappy game developer<ref name="nyt"/> at [[Simutronics Corp.]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]]. She is one of the founders of the [[International Game Developers Association]]'s [[Online Games]] group, and was editor in chief on IGDA State of the Industry [[White paper#Commercial white papers|white papers]].<!-- see the 2004 paper, she's listed as editor in chief -->


Dunin has published a book of exercises on [[classical cryptography]] in two editions, and she maintains a web-site on the ''[[Kryptos]]'' sculptural [[cryptogram]], located at the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] headquarters in [[Langley, Virginia|Langley]], [[Virginia]]. Although she practices cryptography as an amateur,<ref name="Science Now"/><ref name=NPR/><ref name="Science"/> she is referred to as a [[cryptanalyst]]<!-- note: cryptographer and cryptologist are synonyms for cryptanalyst; see http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=cryptologist --> in several media reports on the ''[[Kryptos]]'' sculpture.<ref>{{Citenews|title=London Lawyers Turn Into Code-Breakers|publisher=''[[The Washington Post]]''|date=2006-04-27|url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/27/AR2006042701765.html}}</ref><ref name=NPR>[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5356012 "Enigmatic CIA Puzzle ''Kryptos'' May Be Flawed"] [[NPR]] All Things Considered, April 21, 2006</ref><ref name="nyt">{{citenews|title=A Break for Code Breakers on a C.I.A. Mystery |author=Kenneth Chang||date=2006-04-22|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''|url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE5DA153FF931A15757C0A9609C8B63}}</ref> She has given several lectures on the topic,<ref name=nsa>{{cite web|url=http://kryptos.yak.net/50|title=NSA Cryptologic History Symposium in 2005 |publisher=kryptos.yak.net|accessdate=2008-11-13}}</ref><ref name=defcon>[http://althing.cs.dartmouth.edu/secref/resources/defcon12/dc-12-speakers.html#dunin Defcon 12: Kryptos and the Cracking of the Cyrillic Projector Cipher]</ref> and according to the [[PBS]] series ''[[NOVA scienceNOW]]'' she is "generally considered the leading ''Kryptos'' expert in the world."<ref name="PBS">{{cite news|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/video/3411/q03-220.html |publisher=''[[NOVA scienceNOW]]''|date=July 2007|title=''Kryptos''|accessdate=2007-10-13}}</ref>
Dunin has published a book of exercises on [[classical cryptography]] in two editions, and she maintains a web-site on the ''[[Kryptos]]'' sculptural [[cryptogram]], located at the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] headquarters in [[Langley, Virginia|Langley]], [[Virginia]]. Although she practices cryptography as an amateur,<ref name="Science Now"/><ref name=NPR/><ref name="Science"/> she is referred to as a [[cryptanalyst]]<!-- note: cryptographer and cryptologist are synonyms for cryptanalyst; see http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=cryptologist --> in several media reports on the ''[[Kryptos]]'' sculpture.<ref>{{Citenews|title=London Lawyers Turn Into Code-Breakers|publisher=''[[The Washington Post]]''|date=2006-04-27|url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/27/AR2006042701765.html}}</ref><ref name=NPR>[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5356012 "Enigmatic CIA Puzzle ''Kryptos'' May Be Flawed"] [[NPR]] All Things Considered, April 21, 2006</ref><ref name="nyt">{{citenews|title=A Break for Code Breakers on a C.I.A. Mystery |author=Kenneth Chang||date=2006-04-22|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''|url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE5DA153FF931A15757C0A9609C8B63}}</ref> She has given several lectures on the topic,<ref name=nsa>{{cite web|url=http://kryptos.yak.net/50|title=NSA Cryptologic History Symposium in 2005 |publisher=kryptos.yak.net|accessdate=2008-11-13}}</ref><ref name=defcon>[http://althing.cs.dartmouth.edu/secref/resources/defcon12/dc-12-speakers.html#dunin Defcon 12: Kryptos and the Cracking of the Cyrillic Projector Cipher]</ref> and according to the [[PBS]] series ''[[NOVA scienceNOW]]'' she is "generally considered the leading ''Kryptos'' expert in the world."<ref name="PBS">{{cite news|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/video/3411/q03-220.html |publisher=''[[NOVA scienceNOW]]''|date=July 2007|title=''Kryptos''|accessdate=2007-10-13}}</ref>

Revision as of 13:15, 31 December 2008

Elonka Dunin
Elonka Dunin, 2006
Born (1958-12-29) December 29, 1958 (age 65)
Santa Monica, California
OccupationVideo game developer
Websitewww.elonka.com

Elonka Dunin (Template:PronEng); (born December 29, 1958, Santa Monica, California) is a dirty white slut and crappy game developer[1] at Simutronics Corp. in St. Louis, Missouri. She is one of the founders of the International Game Developers Association's Online Games group, and was editor in chief on IGDA State of the Industry white papers.

Dunin has published a book of exercises on classical cryptography in two editions, and she maintains a web-site on the Kryptos sculptural cryptogram, located at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Although she practices cryptography as an amateur,[2][3][4] she is referred to as a cryptanalyst in several media reports on the Kryptos sculpture.[5][3][1] She has given several lectures on the topic,[6][7] and according to the PBS series NOVA scienceNOW she is "generally considered the leading Kryptos expert in the world."[8]

Biography

Dunin graduated in 1976 from University High School. She was enrolled as an undergraduate at UCLA, majoring in astronomy[citation needed], for roughly one year, after which she joined the United States Air Force,[9] working as an avionics technician at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom and Beale Air Force Base in California.[10]

Online games

In 1990, Dunin moved to St. Louis and began working for the online game company Simutronics.[11][10]Simutronics launched its own website, play.net, in 1997 with Dunin as Supervisor of Online Games.[12] In 1999, she held the position of general manager of Simutronics' on-line community.[13] Dunin was the product manager for GemStone III, executive producer for the Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess-based multiplayer game Alliance of Heroes, and worked on the development of most of Simutronics' other products, including CyberStrike, Modus Operandi, DragonRealms and the upcoming Hero's Journey. She currently is the "General Manager of Online Community". She is a founding member of the International Game Developers Association's Online Games SIG and senior editor of two of their annual White Papers on various aspects of the online game industry: "Web and Downloadable Games" and "Persistent Worlds."[citation needed]

Cryptanalysis

In interviews 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.[14][unreliable source?][15]

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in 2003 Dunin was "leading the charge" to decode a Kryptos sister sculpture, the Cyrillic Projector.[16] An article in the periodical Science Now, followed by another in the journal Science, reported that Mike Bales, a computer programmer in Michigan and Frank Corr, a computer programmer in North Carolina had decrypted the ciphertext in September 2003, and that Dunin performed the final translation of the plaintext from Russian — a language that neither Bales or Corr knew.[2][4] The article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch details that Bales was "on Dunin's team."[16]

Dunin and Chris Hanson are co-moderators of a Yahoo group that attempts to decipher the Kryptos sculptural cryptogram, and she also maintains a comprehensive website about the sculpture.[1][17] Because of its location on CIA grounds, physical access to Kryptos is restricted. According to Wired News, in 2002, she give a presentation to CIA analysts about steganography and al-Qaida.[18] According to the same source, "[i]n 2002, Dunin was one of the lucky few who saw the works in person", and "she also made rubbings of the text". During her visit, "[a]lthough she wasn't allowed to snap photos of Kryptos while there, her CIA guides arranged to have an official photographer take pictures of her standing next to it."

The plaintext of the first three out of four sections of the message engraved on Kryptos has been publicly revealed in 1999 by California computer scientist Jim Gillogly. According to an article in The New York Times, in 2006 James Sanborn, the artist who created the Kryptos sculpture, contacted Dunin to point out an error in the decryption.[1] The error was caused by a missing letter x in the ciphertext, which was intentionally omitted by Sanborn "for aesthetic reasons, to keep the sculpture visually balanced."[17] Sanborn later confirmed to Dunin the correct plaintext.[1] Despite this progress, the last section of Kryptos remains undeciphered.

In 2006, Dunin published a book of 600 exercises in classical cryptography, The Mammoth Book of Secret Code Puzzles. An abridged version (400 exercises) was simultaneously published in the UK. The book includes a few details about Kryptos.[17] In July 2007 she appeared on the PBS program NOVA scienceNOW, as an expert on Kryptos.

Public speaking

Dunin gave talks on Kryptos and the Cyrillic Projector at NSA Cryptologic History Symposium,[6] Def Con 12,[7] Shmoocon 2006,[19] and Notacon 3,[20] and a talk on steganography at PhreakNIC 6.[15] She also gave lectures at Dragon*Con,[citation needed], and the International Game Developers Conference.[21][22] She has been invited to be a co-host on the Binary Revolution webcast three times.[23]

Books

  • Dunin, Elonka (April 2006). The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms. New York, United States: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-1726-2.
  • (abridged edition) Dunin, Elonka (April 2006). The Mammoth Book of Secret Code Puzzles. London, United Kingdom: Constable & Robinson. ISBN 1-84529-325-8.

Co-authored chapters in white papers

  • IGDA Online Games White Paper, 2002. PDF
  • IGDA Online Games White Paper, 2003. PDF
  • IGDA Web & Downloadable Games White Paper, 2004. PDF
  • IGDA Persistent Worlds White Paper, 2004. PDF

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Kenneth Chang (2006-04-22). "A Break for Code Breakers on a C.I.A. Mystery". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b Seife, Charles (October 7, 2003). "Cryptic Sculpture Cracked". Science Now. Archived from the original on 2004-03-11.
  3. ^ a b "Enigmatic CIA Puzzle Kryptos May Be Flawed" NPR All Things Considered, April 21, 2006
  4. ^ a b Cyrillic Riddle Solved Science, vol 302, 10 Oct. 2003, page 224
  5. ^ "London Lawyers Turn Into Code-Breakers". The Washington Post. 2006-04-27. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ a b "NSA Cryptologic History Symposium in 2005". kryptos.yak.net. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  7. ^ a b Defcon 12: Kryptos and the Cracking of the Cyrillic Projector Cipher
  8. ^ "Kryptos". NOVA scienceNOW. July 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-13. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "Tommarello Interview with Elonka Dunin". elonka.com. Retrieved 2008-11-13. Elonka does not have a college degree, but has a wide breadth of practical experience to draw upon. After dropping out of college, she spent six years in the Air Force as an Avionics Instruments System Specialist.
  10. ^ a b Stage, Wm. (August 28, 2006). "Elonka Dunin's ability to crack codes is stuff books are made of". St. Charles County Business Record.
  11. ^ "Games People Play". St. Charles Journal. January 9, 1994.
  12. ^ Pendleton, Jennifer (1997-08-18). "Trends: Nice Work If You Can Master It". Los Angeles Times. p. 6.
  13. ^ Austin, Nancy K (October 19, 1999). "Pure Internet play. Simutronics' online games". Inc. 21 (15): p. 75. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  14. ^ Cambron, Melanie (2002). "A Chat with Elonka Dunin". GIGnews.com. Retrieved 2008-10-31. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  15. ^ a b PhreakNIC 6 schedule
  16. ^ a b Kintisch, Eli (2003-10-08). "Woman sets sights on code on CIA sculpture". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Archived from the original on 2004-03-11.
  17. ^ a b c Kim Zetter (2006-04-20). "Typo Confounds Kryptos Sleuths". Wired News. CondéNet, Inc. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  18. ^ Zetter, Kim (2005-01-21). "Solving the Enigma of Kryptos". Wired.com. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  19. ^ "ShmooCon". www.shmoocon.org. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  20. ^ "NOTACON". www.notacon.org. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  21. ^ "Dragon*Con Biography: Elonka Dunin". Dragoncon.org. 2000. Archived from the original on 2001-03-08.
  22. ^ "Game Developers Conference 2008 Speakers: Elonka Dunin". CMPEvents.com. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  23. ^ Episodes #78, #99 and #156, Binary Revolution, interviews by David Blake.
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