NATO/COMSEC protocol keys (DRYAD, KA running key, chain addition)

In plain English: Tested military or Cold War era cipher systems (VIC, DRYAD, one-time pads, etc.). Every combination within the stated scope was tested (30 thousand configurations); none produced a valid solution. This record is negative within the tested scope.

NOISE Tier 2

How to read this record

Verdict – ELIMINATED (ruled out within the tested scope), NOISE (nothing beyond what chance produces for a search of this size; also shown when a record stored no verdict of its own), INCONCLUSIVE (the test left candidates or options standing, or could not decide, so it does not rule the method out), INTERESTING (slightly above random, almost certainly coincidence), SIGNAL (statistically unusual, warrants investigation), or FULL MATCH (all 24 known letters correct).
Confidence Tier – Tier 1 = mathematical proof, valid while its stated assumptions hold. Tier 2 = every possibility within the stated scope tested. Tier 3 = partially tested or sampled. Tier 4 = not yet properly tested.
Configs Tested – How many different key/parameter combinations were tried.
Best Score – How many of the 24 known plaintext letters the best attempt matched (out of 24). N/A means no such score could be read from this record.
Keystream Consistency (Bean) – Whether the key values at different positions are mathematically consistent with each other. The check only holds when the known letters stay in their carved positions (no letters rearranged or removed), and the full set used here assumes the standard A to Z alphabet.
Scope Limitations – What this elimination does not rule out.

Configs Tested: 30,000
Best Score: 5 / 24 known letters matched · low, no sign of a solution
Confidence: Tier 2: Exhaustive search under stated assumptions. Does not eliminate multi-layer variants.
Date Tested: 2026-02-18
Script: scripts/_uncategorized/e_s_152_nato_protocol.py

Scope Limitations

This elimination does not rule out:

Tests NATO-style key generation methods computationally. Cannot test the K4 coding chart, whose content is not public. The running-key part used a copy of the K3 plaintext that stops matching the real text after 44 letters, and a K2 copy with two extra X letters inserted, so its running-key results do not cover the real K3 text and cover the real K2 text only in part.

Assumptions

NATO-standard key generation
KA alphabet running key
Chain addition from sculpture values

Reproduce

PYTHONPATH=src python3 -u scripts/_uncategorized/e_s_152_nato_protocol.py

Requires the kryptos repo, Python 3.11+, PYTHONPATH=src. Some recent scripts may not be in the public repository yet.

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