Cicada 3301: The Internet's Biggest Mystery
No one knows about the people behind Cicada 3301 or their purpose.
Back in 2012, the Internet was going insane over a mysterious puzzle that started in one of the biggest online forums. Renowned for being the Internet’s hardest puzzle, however, what fascinated people the most about Cicada 3301 was the anonymous organization behind it.
Buckle up, this ride’s gonna be long.
1. “Cicada 3301” - The Beginning
January 5th, 2012. It was a normal day, at least for people who just simply spent their time on social media, but for code-breakers and online investigators, it was the beginning of an adventure.
In the Paranormal board (which resembles a subreddit on Reddit) of the largest anonymous message board at the time, 4Chan, appeared a quite-out-of-place picture that read:
"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 finding us. We look forward to meeting the few that will make it all the way through.
Good luck.
“3301” was signed at the end. The enigmatic message immediately piqued people's interest, with some speculating that this might be one of the recruitment campaigns held by Google, like what they did in 2004 with that mysterious billboard asking applicants to solve a series of math riddles. Others speculated it might be orchestrated by the National Security Agency (NSA). Well, whatever it was, people decided to join the hunt, beginning with the search for the hidden message. Ultimately, they all wanted to know what was at the end of the rope.
“3301” had turned into some sort of a “scavenger hunt”, a new sensation that not only did the 4Chan community gone wild about but also other large Internet forums across the world. Eventually, they found the answer to the first riddle, hidden in the image.
Some canny individuals working alone quickly found that when opening the image as a text document, they found a wall of text with a small string of readable text.
’ 9=82<.342 ! 22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222 %& ’ ()*456789: CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz &’ ()*56789: CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz TIBERIVS CLAVDIVS CAESAR says "lxxt>33m2mqkyv2gsq3q=w]02ntk"
The string “TIBERIVS CLAVDIVS CAESAR” in the above text block indicates that the last bit of the text could only be decrypted using Caesar Cipher. Once deciphered, the “message” revealed an Imgur link that directed them to a decoy solution image.
This image, however, looks like a dead end. Even when people used the same method as the first clue, they couldn’t figure out what the message was. The riddle got a little bit harder at this point, but some quick-witted folks had pointed out the hint, which was the two words “guess” and “out” which might indicate users were supposed to use the old steganography tool called OutGuess to extract the hidden message.
Using OutGuess immediately revealed the hidden message in the original image, which was a series of book codes and a link to a subreddit providing additional information about the book.
“Here is a book code. To find the book, and more information, go to https://www.reddit.com/r/a2e7j6ic78h0j/
1:20 2:3 3:5 4:20 5:5 6:53 7:1 8:8 9:2 10:4 11:8 12:4 13:13 14:4 15:8 16:4 17:5 18:14 19:7 20:31 21:12 22:36 23:2 24:3 25:5 26:65 27:5 28:1 29:2 30:18 31:32 32:10 33:3 34:25 35:10 36:7 37:20 38:10 39:32 40:4 41:40 42:11 43:9 44:13 45:6 46:3 47:5 48:43 49:17 50:13 51:4 52:2 53:18 54:4 55:6 56:4 57:24 58:64 59:5 60:37 61:60 62:12 63:6 64:8 65:5 66:1867:45 68:10 69:2 70:17 71:9 72:20 73:2 74:34 75:13 76:21
Good luck.
3301”
This message indicates that the numbers represent a book cipher, also known as a book code. In a book cipher, numbers correspond to pages, paragraphs, lines, words, or letters in a book. Decoding it requires access to the specific book referenced, and so the quest continued on Reddit.
The attached link led the solvers to a subreddit, in which there were only two pictures, “Welcome” and “Problems?”, and several posts.
It came to their notice that the “Problems?” post was uploaded by the Reddit user u/ImagoOnNib, while all other posts were from u/CageThrottleUs. As time went on, more posts started to appear in the subreddit. A quick observation could be made, perhaps numerous posts attributed to the pseudonym CageThrottleUs contain encoded text, presumably the content of the book. Initially, it appeared that a standard Caesar cipher might have been applied, but upon closer examination, they couldn’t yield any readable texts. The most plausible explanation is that decoding the text requires a specific key.
Solvers also found that the title of the header image is “a2e7j6ic78h0j7eiejd0120”, of which the URL is a shortened version. There were some Mayan numbers in the image that ranged from 0-19 with a dot equaling one; a vertical line equaling five, and so on. From this clue, some individuals managed to decode the title “a2e7j6ic78h0j7eiejd0120” using Vigenère Cipher, they managed to squeeze out a short text, which was sourced from Thomas Bulfinch's Mythology, a renowned literary work that draws from the Mabinogion tales concerning King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, as well as their quest for the Holy Grail.
When using the OutGuess again on the “Welcome” picture, a hidden text revealed that read:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
- From here on out, we will cryptographically sign all messages with this key.
It is available on the mit keyservers. Key ID 7A35090F, as posted in a2e7j6ic78h0j.
Patience is a virtue.
Good luck.
3301This signature at the end was extremely important, especially given the growing popularity of imposters claiming to be Cicada 3301. The PGP (GnuPG) key, identified by the key ID 7A35090F, served as a crucial means to verify 3301’s authenticity.
Using OutGuess on the “Problems?” picture, the seekers found another hidden message:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
The key has always been right in front of your eyes.
This isn't the quest for the Holy Grail. Stop making
it more difficult than it is.
Good luck.
3301The key to decrypting all of this was actually “in front of your eyes”, people quickly found the solution to the third riddle. Combining what users had found with the book codes from the previous puzzle, along with a little more than mild coding ability and wordplay, they found a phone number.
“Call us at us telephone number two one four three nine oh nine six oh eight”
To continue the challenge, participants were instructed to dial (214) 390-9608, a phone number based in Texas. Upon calling this now-deactivated number, users were greeted with a voice message that said:
“Very good. You have done well. There are three prime numbers associated with the original final.jpg image. 3301 is one of them. You will have to find the other two. Multiply all three of these numbers together and add a .com to find the next step. Good luck. Goodbye.” [4]
It was later revealed that the other two prime numbers corresponded to the dimensions of the original 3301 image posted on 4chan, measuring 509 and 503 pixels. Multiplying all three prime numbers together yielded a resulting number (adding “.com”) that directed users to a website featuring a countdown clock and a cicada symbol. When the countdown clock reached zero, the website transitioned to a list of geographical coordinates accompanied by the message, "Find our symbol at the location nearest you."
2. “Cicada 3301” - From The Web To Reality
Who would’ve thought? A silly Internet puzzle had come into real life, spreading across the world. People finally believed Cicada 3301 was a global organization that was looking for recruits instead of some random Internet competitions.
As the countdown concluded, precisely at 17:00 UTC on January 9, 2012, the countdown clock was replaced by strings of digits resembling GPS coordinates. Applying OutGuess to the cicada image yielded a distinct message containing coordinates. These coordinates matched those found on the website, except for two missing coordinates: (37.577070, 126.813122) and (36.0665472222222, -94.1726416666667) [5].
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
52.216802, 21.018334
48.85057059876962, 2.406892329454422
48.85030144151387,2.407538741827011
47.664196, -122.313301
47.637520, -122.346277
47.622993, -122.312576
37.5196666666667, 126.995
33.966808, -117.650488
29.909098706850486 -89.99312818050384
25.684702, -80.441289
21.584069, -158.104211
- -33.90281, 151.18421
3301The locations spread out globally, including California, Australia, Hawaii, South Korea, Poland, and various other places. If users manage to visit the exact locations according to the coordinates, they would discover posters featuring an image of a cicada alongside a QR code.
Some QR codes were stuck to poles, others on the walls of bus stop shelters. It’s an obvious sign that Cicada 3301 is a resourceful organization with members scattered in different countries. Even if they had several members, this level of dedication meant much more than just a “silly” Internet competition.
Now that Cicada 3301 had just announced its presence to the world, this intricate scavenger hunt was no longer only an online thing. As they scanned the QR codes, puzzlers found that there were two variants of posters, containing two different messages.
First message:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
In twenty-nine volumes, knowledge was once contained.
How many lines of the code remained when the Mabinogion paused?
Go that far in from the beginning and find my first name.
1:29
6:46
the product of the first two primes
2:37
14:41
17:3
27:40
the first prime
2:33
1:1
7:45
17:29
21:31
12:17
the product of the first two primes
22:42
15:18
24:33
27:46
12:29
25:66
7:47
You've shared too much to this point. We want the best,
not the followers. Thus, the first few there will receive
the prize.
Good luck.
3301Second message:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
A poem of fading death, named for a king
Meant to be read only once and vanish
Alas, it could not remain unseen.
1:5
152:24
the product of the first two primes
14:13
7:36
12:10
7:16
24:3
271:22
10:7
13:28
12:7
86:17
93:14
the product of the first two primes
16:7
96:4
19:13
47:2
71:22
75:9
77:4
You've shared too much to this point. We want the best,
not the followers. Thus, the first few there will receive
the prize.
Good luck.
3301As participants delved deeper into the rabbit hole, the references became increasingly obscure. This time, the clues revealed in the 2 messages revolved around a quote from a William Gibson book, Agrippa (A Book of the Dead), that was only released on 3.5-inch self-erase floppy disks.
The floppy disk was programmed to encrypt itself after a single use. Once decrypted, a line of text revealed:
sq6wmgv2zcsrix6t.onion
Judging by the “.onion” bit at the end, this could be a link to a website on the dark web which must be accessed via the Tor network, an anonymity-oriented communication network. This is the same type of network that was used to access The Silk Road marketplace.
⭐Learn more about Darkweb:
Alpha_02: The Hunt for The King Of Darkweb
·Hey, welcome to the next article in “Mystery🔎”! So last time, we’ve discussed about Bitcoin and well, the dark side of it. Let’s continue our discussion with how some people manipulated the security and anonymity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for illegal activities. Starting with “Alpha_02” - the notorious kingpin of the Dark web!
Using an adequate web browser, participants would find a message in which they were asked to create a new email address and submit it via an attached email form. After submitting their email addresses, solvers were greeted with a message advising them to patiently await further communication: "Got it, thanks. We'll contact you soon."
However, Cicada 3301 sniffed out that the participants worldwide were collaborating to solve the puzzles, and only the quickest ones that reached the website were acknowledged. Soon after, it vanished without a trace, replaced by the statement "We want the best, not the followers."
After a prolonged period of silence lasting nearly a month after the finalists were chosen, another image surfaced on the subreddit signaling the completion of the Puzzle, stating "Search is over" [6]. And then, no one ever heard of what happened next to the contestants who made it to the final destination of the hunt. Following this, Cicada remained silent until January 2013, when their next puzzle started.
Being one of the very few known participants to have solved it since the first challenge appeared online, Joel Eriksson has a glimpse of the mysterious organization behind Cicada 3301.
3. Behind The Wings Of “Cicada 3301”
Who are the people behind these complex puzzles? God knows. But all that we have left of Cicada is a leaked email.
On February 6th, 2012, someone posted a leaked email that was presumably sent to the participants after completing the 2012 puzzle, in which Cicada 3301 introduced themselves briefly:
[...] You have all wondered who we are and so we shall now tell you we are
an international group we have no name we have no symbol we have no
membership rosters we do not have a public website and we do not
advertise ourselves we are a group of individuals who have proven
ourselves much like you have by completing this recruitment contest
and we are drawn together by common beliefs a careful reading of the
texts used in the contest would have revealed some of these beliefs
that tyranny and oppression of any kind must end that censorship is
wrong and that privacy is an inalienable right.
We are not a *hacker* group nor are we a *warez* group we do not engage
in illegal activity nor do our members if you are engaged in illegal
activity we ask that you cease any and all illegal activities or decline
membership at this time we will not ask questions if you decline however
if you lie to us we will find out [7].
[...] That doesn’t offer too much valuable information on who they are. However, speculation abounds; some suggest that Cicada 3301 was an organization involving certain government intelligence agencies such as the CIA, NSA, and MI6, which may be seeking to recruit skilled cryptoanalysts such as Eriksson - a possibility he doesn’t think is likely.
“It is actually quite common for intelligence agencies and similar organizations to use non-traditional forms of recruitment, but in those cases, they usually announce it officially rather than hiding their identity,” said Eriksson. Comparing it with a similar code-cracking challenge called “Can you crack it?” held by the GCHQ - a UK government-tasked intelligence and security organization, he claimed the GCHQ challenge required much deeper technical skills than the Cicada 3301, but the scope was much smaller and it required a lot less time to solve. “If intelligence agencies used something like the Cicada 3301 puzzles to find people to recruit, they would probably end up with a lot of people that are not really interested in working for an organization such as theirs,” he added.
On being asked about his thoughts on the identity behind the enigmatic Cicada 3301 puzzle, he responded, “It is most likely an underground organization, not related to any government or intelligence agency,” he says. “Based on the references in their challenges–the Agrippa poem by William Gibson, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake, The Book of The Law by Aleister Crowley–and their constant references to prime numbers and the like, they are likely intellectual, anti-establishment, ideologically driven and they seem to be valuing logical/analytical thinking highly. They seem to share a lot of ideology with the cryptoanarchy movement, and old-school hackers” [8].
Despite the theories, Cicada 3301 and its true purpose remain unknown to this day. The Internet has not heard from them again since their last puzzle in 2014.
Reference:
[1] https://marketingmind.in/back-when-google-made-applicants-solve-a-maths-riddle-to-apply-for-a-job-opening/
[2] https://old.reddit.com/r/a2e7j6ic78h0j/comments/o3hoi/welcome/
[3] https://old.reddit.com/r/a2e7j6ic78h0j/comments/o6n9a/problems/
[4] https://clevcode.org/cicada-3301/
[5] https://uncovering-cicada.fandom.com/wiki/What_Happened_(2012)#The_Start
[6] https://www.unrevealedfiles.com/cicada-3301-most-difficult-cryptographic-riddle-of-the-internet/
[7] https://uncovering-cicada.fandom.com/wiki/The_Leaked_Email
[8] https://www.fastcompany.com/3025785/meet-the-man-who-solved-the-mysterious-cicada-3301-puzzle
I must be living under a rock because I had no idea this happened. Lol. :) Whenever I think of cicadas, I only think of loud creatures that take over the east coast spring and summer--sometimes to an alarming degree. Thanks for sharing this, Lee.
sorta like a digital easter egg hunt? jokes aside, i think there was a movie on this way back when...