The Cicada 3301 puzzles began to look on 4chan in 2012, claiming to be a check to search out “extremely smart people” — however nobody is aware of who posted these puzzles or why.
Cicada 3301One of many Cicada 3301 messages.
The thriller of Cicada 3301 started with an Web message posted by a person named 3301: “Whats up. We’re on the lookout for extremely smart people. To seek out them, we’ve devised a check. There’s a message hidden on this picture. Discover it, and it’ll lead you on the street to discovering us. We look ahead to assembly the few that may make it all through. Good luck.”
Posted to 4chan’s /x/ board on Jan 4. 2012, this message marked the start of what many would hail because the Web’s biggest thriller: Cicada 3301. Nobody knew who “3301” was or why, precisely, the person was seemingly recruiting puzzle solvers through 4chan. However these questions solely made contributors extra inquisitive about discovering out.
A number of theories quickly emerged. Some believed that the puzzle had been posted by intelligence businesses searching for out potential expertise or by a mysterious Illuminati-like group recruiting members. Others believed that they had been some type of educational analysis, or presumably the early levels of an alternate actuality sport, a.okay.a. an “A.R.G.”
What was clear from the beginning was that the Cicada 3301 puzzles had been extraordinarily advanced. They included components from numerous fields, together with cryptography, quantity principle, philosophy and esoteric data, laptop programming, and literature, notably the works of William Blake. They had been dispersed in three levels — one in 2012, a second in 2013, and a 3rd in 2014 — and although some people managed to unravel elements of the puzzles, few made it to the ultimate levels.
Those that did reportedly acquired personal communications and had been invited to collaborate on undisclosed tasks. However a lot about Cicada 3301, together with who posted the puzzles, stays a thriller.
The First Cicada 3301 Puzzle Seems On-line
Cicada 3301The primary submit from Cicada 3301 on 4chan.
The Cicada 3301 puzzle begun the second 3301 posted on 4chan. The trace was proper there in plain writing: “There’s a message hidden on this picture.”
Initially, 4chan customers had been uncertain how severe 3301’s submit was. The net discussion board had lengthy been a considerably in style and controversial website for dialogue — in addition to unlawful content material, hate speech, harassment campaigns, and birthing the radicalizing QAnon conspiracy principle.
Regardless, the Cicada 3301 submit gained a good quantity of consideration, and plenty of who tried to unravel the primary puzzle merely to see if they may.
“Initially, I simply thought it will be a pleasant little brainteaser,” Swedish developer and cryptosecurity researcher Joel Eriksson instructed Fast Company in 2014. Eriksson was one of many few individuals who solved the preliminary puzzle.
He continued: “I’ve all the time been inquisitive about something that may problem me, and I by no means surrender. Within the case of Cicada, the puzzle in query turned out to be much more than I believed it will be after I began.”
Marcus Wanner, a 15-year-old who was among the many first wave of puzzle solvers, was additionally in a position to resolve the primary Cicada 3301 puzzle thanks partly to a group of contributors who referred to themselves as group #decipher.
Fixing the puzzle turned an obsession, Wanner instructed Rolling Stone in 2013: “[My mother] received sick of me not displaying up for meals as a result of I used to be handed out from exhaustion.”
Ciphers, Decoys, And A Mysterious Voicemail
Opening that preliminary picture in a steganography program revealed a hidden textual content message that included a string of numbers and the phrases “Tiberius Claudius Caesar” — an indication that indicated the usage of a Caesar cipher. When decoded, it offered a URL which led to an Imgur picture of a duck.
Eager-eyed puzzle solvers acknowledged the duck for what it actually was: a decoy. However two phrases within the picture — “out” and “guess” — prompt to puzzle solvers that they need to use one other steganography program referred to as OutGuess, which produced a hidden ebook code that subsequently led to a Reddit URL with Mayan numerals on the high of the web page.
Cicada 3301Many Cicada 3301 puzzle solvers got here throughout this picture of a duck — which was really a “decoy.”
From there got here extra hidden messages and extra riddles main to a different string of digits. These occurred to be a cellphone quantity in Texas, which, when referred to as, led to a voicemail:
“Excellent. You will have executed effectively. There are three prime numbers related to the unique ultimate.jpg picture. 3301 is one among them. You’ll have to discover the opposite two. Multiply all three of those numbers collectively and add a .com to search out the following step. Good luck. Goodbye.”
Doing the maths led to a different web site with a countdown and a picture of a cicada. After the countdown ended, the location confirmed a collection of GPS coordinates that led to phone poles in nations throughout the globe, together with Spain, Russia, the US, France, Japan, and Poland, all of which had bodily posters with a QR code.
That QR code led to an nameless darknet web page through Tor, however after a while, the puzzle funneled right down to a “personal part.” However the individuals behind Cicada 3301 expressed disappointment that most individuals solely reached the location as a result of they labored in teams — not individually — and successfully shut out anybody who made it that far after a sure date. That included solvers like Eriksson.
“It was fairly disappointing,” Eriksson says. “Particularly contemplating that the individuals who registered in time had been principally ones that had not really solved a lot of the puzzles themselves. Individuals had been sharing options and collaborating a bit an excessive amount of.”
However whereas Eriksson’s journey got here to an finish there, for others it stored going, no less than, in principle. In the event that they continued on, they’ve remained comparatively tight-lipped about what adopted. Aside from a number of unsubstantiated leaks, the identities of the individuals behind Cicada 3301 are nonetheless unknown.
What Is Cicada 3301 And Who Created It?
Cicada 3301A Cicada 3301 poster in Warsaw.
One month after the primary submit appeared on 4chan, Wanner — and presumably, others who had solved the puzzle — acquired a curious electronic mail from 3301, addressing a number of the questions whereas remaining frustratingly obscure.
In accordance with the e-mail, 3301 is a world group with no actual identify, image, or membership roster. They claimed to be a bunch of people who’ve “confirmed” themselves and had been “drawn collectively by widespread beliefs.” The e-mail asserted that they weren’t a hacker group, nor had been they engaged in criminality.
“You’re undoubtedly questioning what it’s that we do,” it reads. “We’re very like a assume tank, in that our main focus is on researching and creating strategies to assist the concepts we advocate: liberty, privateness, safety.”
Those that responded to this electronic mail with solutions deemed sincere and in alignment with these values had been reportedly contacted once more and put right into a chatroom of kinds with different potential recruits. They mentioned 3301 was began by a bunch of associates after which regularly expanded to incorporate like-minded individuals from throughout the globe, with no particular ties to anyone company or authorities.
Their targets had been supposedly to extend privateness and safety within the “Digital Age” and make sure the freedom of knowledge.
“They needed to make it appear to be they had been this community of people who had ‘infiltrated,’ if that’s the best phrase, numerous personal and public organizations,” one other member of group #decipher, who used the pseudonym Tekknolagi, instructed Fast Company in a follow-up piece.
However of this new “brood” of recruits — the phrasing right here particularly meant to seek advice from broods of cicadas — solely Wanner continued to go to the key discussion board months on. His pleasure over collaborating on software program with different puzzle solvers light, and he requested 3301 to recruit new members.
They instructed him they might.
Cicada 3301The picture posted for the second spherical of puzzles in 2013.
Then, a yr after the primary puzzle was posted, 3301 dropped a second spherical of puzzles. As soon as once more, a potential assortment of puzzle solvers took up the problem.
The Remaining Mysteries Of Cicada 3301
Cicada 3301The Cicada 3301 “epiphany” submit.
The 2013 follow-up puzzles proved to be much more troublesome, incorporating the writings of occultist Aleister Crowley, embedding riddles in songs and work, and main individuals to hunt out extra QR code-stapled phone poles.
This time, it appeared as if nobody may resolve the puzzle. Wanner didn’t meet any of the brand new brood, and earlier than lengthy, he was unable to log again onto the darknet website. The positioning was merely gone.
Then, on Jan. 6, 2014, a Twitter account utilizing the deal with @1231507051321 posted a cryptic, Cicada-like message: “Epiphany is upon you. Your pilgrimage has begun. Enlightenment awaits.” Greater than a decade on, it appears nobody has solved this third set of puzzles, although individuals definitely haven’t stopped attempting.
Cicada 3301A Cicada 3301 submit referring to Aleister Crowley’s Liber Primus.
Cicada 3301, for his or her half, have principally been quiet, apart from a number of extremely obscure messages in 2015, 2016, and 2017. The 2017 message appears to have simply been a warning to remain on monitor, successfully telling solvers to maintain working at it, however past that there haven’t been every other main developments within the story.
Theories about who the id of Cicada 3301 proceed to be mentioned, however a number of the wilder theories have been tempered as a number of the messages from solvers leaked. Are Cicada 3301 members really extraterrestrials? No, in all probability not. Are they recruiting individuals for presidency businesses? Additionally unlikely, given Wanner’s expertise and 3301’s personal admission that they had been worldwide and unaffiliated with any authorities.
Cicada 3301Runes from the Liber Primus, which comprise a clue to the third set of Cicada puzzles.
This appears to be an Occam’s razor scenario — the best rationalization is the closest to the reality. Cicada 3301 more than likely did start as a small group of clever, like-minded individuals who determined to develop, with the objective of making software program collectively — they did, in spite of everything, ask Wanner to code software program — for the sake of cybersecurity and defending the liberty of knowledge.
Maybe in the future, the ultimate puzzle shall be solved or members of 3301 will step out into the sunshine. Till then, Cicada 3301 continues to be one of many Web’s biggest mysteries.
After studying concerning the thriller of Cicada 3301, learn the tales of the greatest unsolved mysteries in human historical past. Then, dive into the who, what, when, the place, and why of the Internet’s invention.
