On the 4th of January, 2012, a user on 4chan posted an image to the site's infamous /b/ or random board.
What is CICADA 3301?
Cicada describes itself as an international group.
That believes that privacy is an inalienable right.
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| CICADA 3301 |
Since 2012, there were unsolved secrets and mystery needs to be unwrapped by means of elaborate cryptographic puzzles, that aim to recruit like-minded individuals to develop a privacy-conscious solutions ecosystem.
How it all started?
The anonymous author, who went by the four-digit pseudonym 3301, challenged users to unwrap a secret message, hidden within the image.
Within few minutes of the image being posted, someone discovered that by extracting the file using a text editor an appended string of readable text could be found.
The string contained a cipher (0 & 1), after deciphering, it forms a link to yet another image.
Later afterward, OutGuess users were able to extract hidden information embedded within the first image.
The extracted information which in turn contained information about a book, which includes a code could then be used to uncover a phone number, calling on lead to the prerecorded message.
By the following day, the initial image had been reposed all over the social networking platforms & internet.
Curiosity leads to Questioning like:
- What was the puzzle for?
- Who was behind it?
- What happens when you reach the end?
The 2 missing numbers mentioned in the recording proved to be the dimensions of the original image.
After multiplying the width and height with 3301 and using the product as a web address, users were taken to a website that consisted of a countdown as well as an image of a Cicada. [Image of Cicada]
When the countdown reached zero, the page was reloaded with a list of coordinates.
The coordinates pointed to locations around the globe.
14 locations in 5 different countries.
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| Map |
At each location was a poster with the cicada symbol and a QR code.
The codes linked to an image, the image contained a riddle (puzzle),
The riddle points to a book, and the book point towards a website.
But here, the puzzle took an unexpected turn.
Only a select group of first arrivals to this website were accepted into the final stage of the puzzle.
The site eventually closed down with the message:
"We want the best, not the followers."
The finalists were also warned not to collaborate with others nor to share the details of this private stage of the puzzle.
Well, given that we know this, it's safe to say that not everyone heeded that warning.
But those who did presumably advanced through the final stages before reaching the very end of the puzzle.
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| Puzzle Extracted using Notepad code |
Merely a month of later silence, an image appeared on the subreddit announcing the conclusion of the puzzle and, just like that, the hunt was over.
Cicada had supposedly found the "highly intelligent individuals" they were looking for.
The lack of an explanation was perceived by many as confirmation that the puzzle had been nothing but a wild-goose chase intent on wasting everyone's time.
After all, questions raised by the original image remained unanswered:
- What was the puzzle for?
- Who was behind it?
- What happens when you reach the end?
However, as it later turned out, this was only the beginning.
Second Puzzle:
In this intricate game, an authentication code known as a PGP signature along with every clue is mentioned.
This allowed users to verify that an image or message was actually from Cicada.
Cicada had repeatedly warned "false paths" and insisted that any message lacking a valid PGP signature should promptly be disregarded.
After a year of lackluster imitations, this image finally matched the official PGP signature.
Cicada was back and it was time for round two. The second puzzle was not too dissimilar from the first.
The image enclosed a message, the message lead to a book, the book produced a link, and gradually the puzzle unfolded.
At one point, a recording titled "The Instar Emergence" was uncovered.
Another clue leads to a cryptic Twitter account which then leads to an image.
Much like the first puzzle, the second swelled into the physical world.
This time it was
8 locations in 4 different countries.
Another select group of first arrivals had been accepted into a final private stage of the puzzle.
Unlike the first puzzle, the second did not conclude with an official message or solution from Cicada.
The trail merely went cold and Cicada vanished.
However, this was still not the end.
Final Puzzle:
At the beginning of 2014, it was time for round three.
Over again the image enclosed a message, the message points to a book, the book produced a link, and it was more of the same.
Except, this time, the puzzle seemed to revolve around a strange book.
The book was titled "Liber Primus," meaning First Book in Latin, and was evidently written by Cicada.
The runic alphabet was unwrapped in 2013.
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| Liber Primus |
The book consisted of various "philosophical and ideological ideas" and appeared to be their manifesto.
Nevertheless, the book also comprised a myriad of clues and codes.
Clues and pages advised participants to seek out a website on the dark web but the site remains undiscovered.
Another page directs to a website containing yet another recording titled Interconnectedness.
However, a significant portion of that text or book has yet to be translated.
In six years, 74 pages featuring runes, only 19 have been successfully translated.
As 2015 came and went without the launch of a new puzzle, many came to suspect the Liber Primus had to be completed if Cicada was to return.
This was more or less confirmed at the beginning of 2016.
When Cicada encouraged a reexamination of the book.
More than four years have now gone by with minimal progress and near-complete silence from Cicada.
Questions raised by the original image have gone ignored:
- What is the purpose of these puzzles?
- Who's behind them?
- What happens when you reach the end?
The End of Internet Mystery:
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| Addressing Email from CICADA 3301 |
The email concludes with three questions.
The PGP signature, which would have confirmed the authenticity of the email, was conveniently removed by the leaker.
But regardless of its legitimacy, there's a question a bit odd.
It reads: "Do you believe that information should be free?"
Presuming the expected answer is "Yes" according to the very first sentence ...
"DO NOT SHARE THIS INFORMATION!"
... seems a bit hypocritical.
While the idea of a secret society recruiting individuals by means of elaborate cryptographic puzzles may seem a bit absurd or even conspiratorial, it's not entirely unfounded.
Again Questioning:
- Okay, but then, what about the recruits?
- Why have we not heard from these chosen few?
The goal was to work as a collective to develop software applications in line with that ideology.
As friends recruited friends, this secret society quickly expanded into a decentralized international organization.
The recruits were then tasked with developing software that fit the ideology of the group and members of Cicada would oversee their progress.
But without the allure of a puzzle to be solved, the recruits quickly lost interest.
By the end of 2012, all but one had left and a few months later the site was gone.
They never heard from Cicada again.
Cicada made its last public statement in April of 2017.
Merely warning against disinformation, but the current status of the third puzzle and the possibility of a fourth remains clouded in mystery.
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