Elonka Dunin

Elonka Dunin
Dunin in 2006
Born (1958-12-29) December 29, 1958 (age 65)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
OccupationVideo game developer
Websiteelonka.com

Elonka Dunin (/ɪˈlɒŋkə ˈdʌnɪn/; born December 29, 1958) is an American video game developer and cryptologist.[1] Dunin worked at Simutronics Corp. in St. Louis, Missouri from 1990–2014, and in 2015 was Senior Producer at Black Gate Games in Nashville, Tennessee.[2] She is Chairperson Emerita and one of the founders of the International Game Developers Association's Online Games group, has contributed or been editor in chief on multiple IGDA State of the Industry white papers, and was one of the Directors of the Global Game Jam from 2011–2014.[3] As of 2020 she works as a management consultant at Accenture.[2]

Dunin has published a book of exercises on classical cryptography, and maintains cryptography-related websites about topics such as Kryptos, a sculpture at the Central Intelligence Agency containing an encrypted message,[1][4][5][6] and another on the world's most famous unsolved codes.[7] She has given several lectures on the subject of cryptography,[8][9] and according to the PBS series NOVA scienceNOW she is "generally considered the leading Kryptos expert in the world."[10] In 2010, bestselling author Dan Brown named a character, Nola Kaye, in his novel The Lost Symbol after her, in an anagram pattern.[11]

  1. ^ a b Chang, Kenneth (April 22, 2006). "A Break for Code Breakers on a C.I.A. Mystery". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b Dunin, Elonka (July 15, 2020). "Professional Bio". elonka.com. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  3. ^ Vakhrusheva, Yulia (August 15, 2011). "Gloge and Dunin join Global Game Jam management team". Casual Connect. Archived from the original on April 22, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
  4. ^ Hallett, Vicky (May 19, 2006). "Code Warrioress - she's cracking the D.C. area's biggest secret" (PDF). The Washington Post. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  5. ^ Kravitz, Derek (April 27, 2006). "London Lawyers Turn Into Code-Breakers". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  6. ^ "Enigmatic CIA Puzzle Kryptos May Be Flawed" NPR All Things Considered, April 21, 2006
  7. ^ "Elonka's list of famous unsolved codes". elonka.com. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  8. ^ "NSA Cryptologic History Symposium in 2005". kryptos.yak.net. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  9. ^ Defcon 12: Kryptos and the Cracking of the Cyrillic Projector Cipher
  10. ^ "Kryptos". NOVA scienceNOW. July 2007. Retrieved October 13, 2007.
  11. ^ Kerman, Byron (October 2011). "What It's Like to Be a Cryptographer". St. Louis Magazine. Retrieved September 16, 2011.