“Cicada 3301,” the hardest puzzle on the internet, was born on January 4, 2012. It is regarded as the “most intricate and enigmatic riddle of the internet age.” A mystery group known only as Cicada 3301 has three times uploaded puzzle sets in an effort to enlist the world’s fastest and smartest codebreakers. Initially published on websites like Reddit and 4chan, this puzzle ran for almost a month.
Data security, cryptography, steganography, and online anonymity were major themes throughout the riddles. Many theories exist regarding its purpose, and it has been dubbed “the most intricate and enigmatic conundrum of the internet age” and one of the “top 5 eeriest, unresolved mysteries of the internet” by The Washington Post. The NSA, CIA, MI6, a “Masonic conspiracy,” or a cyber mercenary company have all been suggested as potential employers of the puzzles. Others have claimed Cicada 3301 is an augmented reality game, despite the fact that nobody has tried to make money off of it. Some of the finalists think Cicada 3301 is a holdover from the Cypherpunk movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The riddle said:
“Hello, we are looking for highly intelligent individuals. To find them we have devised a test. There is a message hidden in this image. Find it, and it will lead you on the road to us. We look forward to meeting the few that will make it all the way through. Good luck. 3301”.
A year later, on January 4, 2013, the second puzzle was posted, and exactly one year later, on January 4, 2014, the third puzzle was made available. On Twitter, the first hint was published. On January 5, 2016, a different hint was published on Twitter. The final problem, however, has yet to be solved. Techniques including encryption, decryption, decoding cyphers utilising cryptographic techniques, steganography, and numerous code-breaking techniques are used to solve these riddles.
In 2021, the movie Dark Web: Cicada 3301, which was influenced by the group, was released.
Cicada 3301’s Purpose
Although the ultimate goal is still unknown, the stated goal of the riddles each year was to attract “very clever persons.” Some people asserted that Cicada 3301 is a covert organisation with the objective of enhancing encryption, privacy, and anonymity. Cicada 3301, according to some, is a cult or a religion. 3301 normally uses non-puzzle based recruiting methods, but invented the Cicada puzzles because they were looking for potential members with cryptography and computer security expertise, according to statements of numerous people who won the 2012 problem.
It is anticipated that the solution to the puzzle will reveal these persons’ identities. After the participants complete one puzzle, a considerably more difficult one is shown to them. Participants should be well-versed in topics such as coding, cryptography, encryption, steganography, etc.
The identity of the persons behind this puzzle and the motivation behind wanting such smart people on a team remain a complete mystery. There have been accusations that Cicada 3301 is a secret society, while some have asserted that it is a cult or a religion. Many of the persons who claimed to have solved the 2012 puzzle’s solution claim that while 3301 generally use non-puzzle-based recruiting strategies, they developed the Cicada puzzles in order to find potential members with expertise in computer security and cryptography. The specifics are still unknown.
Details And Types Of Clues For Cicada 3301
In contrast to a typical puzzle, Cicada 3301 creates the most unusual and challenging types of clues that no person could answer without the right knowledge of numerous crucial computer science principles. The following are some examples of Cicada 3301’s hints and information:
- A picture was provided. The participants discovered that an encrypted message had been provided, which needed to be decoded using the Caesar Cipher decoding technique after opening the image in the text-only editor WordPad. Later, the clue directed to a URL.
- Some hints pointed to imagery, King Arthur and the Holy Grail, a jumbled collection of letters, Mayan numerals, and book codes.
- After figuring out these puzzle pieces, the participants were routed to a phone number that gave them the next clue, which was an image with a few prime numbers buried therein. The other two prime numbers, their sum, and the addition of a domain were given to the participants, who were then instructed to locate them.
- Later, the URL took users to a screen with a picture of a cicada and a countdown timer that would expire in three days.
- The website provided 14 GPS coordinates for the destinations, which included Warsaw, Seoul, Paris, Sydney, Hawaii, Miami, New Orleans, and Seattle, after the three-day countdown.
- The participants discovered flyers with a QR code and an image of a Cicada affixed to a streetlight after visiting the sites of the GPS coordinates that were provided.
- After being scanned, the QR codes led to fresh URLs that contained passages from the William Gibson poem “Agrippa (A Book of the Dead).” It brought up a Tor browser. Clues also pointed to the dark web.
- The makers of Cicada 3301 posted the following message on 4Chan after a month of running this ridiculously difficult global treasure hunt:
“We have now found the individuals we sought. Thus our month-long journey ends. You are undoubtedly
wondering what it is that we do we are much like a * think tank * in that our primary focus is on
researching and developing techniques to aid the ideas we
advocate liberty privacy security”.
Resolution Of Cicada 3301
Marcus Wanner figured out the first puzzle of 2012. He claims that individuals who completed the riddles were questioned regarding their stance on censorship, internet privacy and freedom, and support of information freedom. Those who responded appropriately at this point were invited to a secret forum where they were given instructions to create and finish a project meant to advance the group’s ideals. The website was taken down because he did not complete his work on a generic decryption mechanism.
One of the most contentious issues among those who solve technological challenges is Cicada 3301. Joel Eriksson and Marcus Wanner are two of the select few who have cracked Cicada but were unable to discover the mystery’s perpetrator.
- Joel claimed that he was sent to a location on the secure Tor network. Eriksson had to rely on others for assistance because the coordinates pointed to telephone poles in many nations, including Spain, Russia, America, France, Japan, and Poland. When he got there, though, Cicada 3301 had posted a message saying they were dissatisfied in the teams that had formed to split up the pieces of the puzzles they had uncovered without having each member finish every step along the way, as Eriksson had. To get there, he needed assistance.
- Marcus claims that those who figured out the puzzle were questioned regarding their stance on censorship, internet privacy and freedom, and support for information freedom. Those that responded appropriately at this point were invited to a confidential meeting where they were given instructions to create and execute a project. The website was taken down because he was unable to finish his work on a generic decryption technique.
Cicada 3301 hasn’t yet been shown to be a legitimate intelligence agency, an organisation that uses unconventional methods of recruiting, or an underground group with no connection to any official goals. However, it is unknown if it is hazardous or what a covert underground organization’s goals are.
