TRANSCRIPT CICADA 3301: An Internet Mystery

00:05
On the 4th of January, 2012, a user on 4chan posted this image
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to the site's infamous /b/ or random board.
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The anonymous author, who went by the four-digit pseudonym 3301, challenged users to
uncover
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a message hidden within the image.
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Unbeknownst to those who stumbled across it, someone had just set in motion one of the
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most elaborate scavenger hunts the internet has ever seen.
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Within minutes of the image being posted someone discovered that by opening the file using
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a text editor an appended string of readable text could be found.
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The string contained a cipher that, once deciphered, formed a link to yet another image.
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At first this appeared to be a dead end but using an application known as OutGuess
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users were able to extract hidden information embedded within the first image.
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The extracted information lead to a subreddit which in turn contained information about a
book.
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The book along with a code could then be used to uncover a
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phone number that, when called, played this prerecorded message.
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By the following day, the initial image had been reposed all over the internet.
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A growing community of armchair detectives sought to unravel this elaborate puzzle but
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no one was quite sure what to make off it.
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What was the puzzle for?
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Who was behind it?
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What happens when you reach the end?
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Some naturally dismissed it as an elaborate joke while others perceived its complexity
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as evidence against it being the work of a mere troll.
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Before long, rumors began to circulate that this could be the work of some secret society
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or intelligence agency with the intent of recruiting individuals proficient in
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cryptography, steganography, and other related fields.
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Of course, it was nothing but a rumor.
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The two missing numbers mentioned in the recording proved to be the dimensions of the
original image.
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After multiplying the width and height with 3301 and using the product as a web address,
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users were taken to a website.
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The website consisted of a countdown as well as an image of a cicada.
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When the countdown reached zero, the page was updated with a list of coordinates.
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The coordinates pointed to locations around the globe.
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14 locations in 5 different countries.
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It was now up to participants living near the specified coordinates to rise from their
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comfortable armchairs and venture outside.
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Those who believed Cicada to be the work of an organization now felt their beliefs had been
justified.
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In their opinion, only some international collective possessed the means and resources
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to create a scavenger hunt of this magnitude.
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This was not the work of your average troll.
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No, this had to be something else.
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At each location was a poster with the cicada symbol and a QR code.
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...on the bike shelter over here.
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See I got it... I got it right there.
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You can see the corners, I just kinda ripped it off.
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The codes linked to an image, the image contained a riddle, the riddle lead to a book,
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and the book lead to a website.
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But here, the puzzle took an unexpected turn.
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Only a select group of first arrivals to this website were accepted into the final stage of the
puzzle.
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The site eventually closed down with the message:
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"We want the best, not the followers."
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The finalists were also warned not to collaborate with others nor to share the details of this
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private stage of the puzzle.
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Well, given that we know this, it's safe to say that not everyone heeded that warning.
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But those who did presumably advanced through the final stages before reaching the very
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end of the puzzle.
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After nearly a month of silence an image appeared on the subreddit announcing the
conclusion
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of the puzzle and, just like that, the hunt was over.
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Cicada had supposedly found the "highly intelligent individuals" they were looking for
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and whatever happened to them is a bit of a mystery but more on that in a moment.
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The lack of an explanation was perceived by many as confirmation that the puzzle had been
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nothing but a wild-goose chase intent on wasting everyones time.
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After all, questions raised by the original image remained unanswered.
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What was the puzzle for?
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Who was behind it?
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What happens when you reach the end?
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However, as it later turned out, this was only the beginning.
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Whomever was behind this intricate game had the foresight to include an authentication
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code known as a PGP signature along with every clue.
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This allowed users to verify that an image or message was actually from Cicada as opposed
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to some impostor seeking to derail or hijack the puzzle.
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Cicada had repeatedly warned of such "false paths" and insisted that any message lacking
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a valid PGP signature should promptly be disregarded.
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That's why this image, posted exactly a year and a day after the first, provoked such a frenzy.
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After a year of lackluster imitations, this image finally matched the official PGP signature.
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Cicada was back and it was time for round two.
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The second puzzle was not too dissimilar from the first.
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The image enclosed a message, the message lead to a book, the book produced a link,
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and gradually the puzzle unfolded.
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At one point, a recording titled The Instar Emergence was uncovered.
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Another clue lead to a cryptic Twitter account which then lead to an image.
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The image proved vital to the progression of the puzzle but the inclusion of this runic
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alphabet would remain a mystery for quite some time.
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Much like the first puzzle the second swelled into the physical world when a list coordinates
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compelled participants to, once again, take to the streets in search of enigmatic posters.
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This time it was 8 locations in 4 different countries.
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But eventually the trail went cold once again.
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Another select group of first arrivals had been accepted into a final private stage of the puzzle.
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Unlike the first puzzle the second did not conclude with an official message from Cicada.
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The trail merely went cold and Cicada vanished once more leaving us no closer to an
explanation.
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However, this was still not the end.
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At the beginning of 2014 it was time for round three.
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Once again the image enclosed a message, the message lead to a book, the book produced
a link,
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and suffice it to say, it was more of the same.
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Except, this time, the puzzle seemed to revolve around a strange book.
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The book was titled Liber Primus, meaning First Book in Latin, and was evidently written by
Cicada.
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The runic alphabet uncovered in 2013 finally made sense as the book was primarily written in
runes.
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Even so, the meaning of the translated pages were cryptic at best.
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The book consisted of various philosophical and idealogical ideas and appeared to be their
manifesto.
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Many have since compared the strange writings to that of a cult.
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Nevertheless, the book also comprised a myriad of clues and codes.
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For example, this page advised participants to seek out a website on the deep web
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but the site remains undiscovered.
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Another page lead to a website containing yet another recording titled Interconnectedness.
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However, a significant portion of the book has yet to be translated.
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The runic text on some of the pages appear to be obfuscated by layers of encryption
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that has yet to be decrypted.
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Of the 74 pages featuring runes, only 19 have been successfully translated.
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As 2015 came and went without the launch of a new puzzle, many came to suspect the Liber
Primus
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had to be completed if Cicada was to return.
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This was more or less confirmed at the beginning of 2016
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when Cicada encouraged a reexamination of the book.
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More than four years have now gone by with minimal progress and near complete silence
from Cicada.
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Questions raised by the original image have gone ignored.
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What is the purpose of these puzzles?
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Who's behind them?
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What happens when you reach the end?
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When the initial image appeared on 4chan back in 2012 many assumed Cicada 3301 to be an
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alternate reality game designed by a corporation to promote a new service or product.
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For example, Microsoft developed an elaborate ARG back in 2001 to promote the film
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Artificial Intelligence and a similar viral marketing campaign was used to promote the release
of Halo 2.
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But the release of subsequent puzzles and the complete lack of commercialization
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has more or less eliminated that possibility.
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If we choose to believe some of the leaked information from the private end-stage of
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each puzzle than we do gain some insight into who this group might be.
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For example, at the end of the first puzzle, finalists supposedly received this email.
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In it, Cicada describe themselves as an international group who believe that privacy is an
inalienable right.
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The aim of each puzzle is to recruit like-minded individuals
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in an effort to develop privacy-conscious solutions.
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The email then concludes with three questions.
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The PGP signature, which would have confirmed the authenticity of the email, was
conveniently
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removed by the leaker.
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If a version with a valid signature does exists online I was unable to find it.
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But regardless of it's legitimacy, I find this question a bit odd.
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It reads: "Do you believe that information should be free?"
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Assuming the expected answer is yes then the very first sentence...
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"DO NOT SHARE THIS INFORMATION!"
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...seems a bit hypocritical.
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While the idea of a secret society recruiting individuals by means of elaborate cryptographic
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puzzles may seem a bit absurd or even conspiratorial, it's not entirely unfounded.
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Corporations and governments alike have employed similar recruitment techniques since at
least
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the second World War.
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In 2013, the British intelligence agency GCHQ launched a recruitment program known as
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"Can You Find It?".
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Participants had to decrypt a number of cryptograms hidden across the internet and those
who managed
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to solve the entire puzzle were offered a prize or a position at the agency.
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Google did something similar with enigmatic billboards back in 2004 and the US Navy
launched
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a near-identical project in 2014.
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Okay, but then, what about the recruits?
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Why have we not heard from these chosen few?
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Well, we have.
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It's just that separating a legitimate finalist from an impostor is virtually impossible.
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In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, two alleged winners of the first puzzle chronicled
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the events beyond the final stage.
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After receiving an email from Cicada they were taken to a forum on the dark web.
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Here, they could communicate with some twenty some odd recruits as well as a handful of
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established members of Cicada.
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They were told that Cicada 3301 had been founded by a group of friends who shared common
ideals
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about security, privacy, and censorship.
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The goal was to work as a collective to develop software applications in line with that ideology.
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As friends recruited friends, this secret society quickly expanded into a decentralized
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international organization.
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The recruits were then tasked with developing software that fit the ideology of the group
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and members of Cicada would oversee their progress.
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But without the allure of a puzzle to be solved, the recruits quickly lost interest.
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By the end of 2012 all but one had left and a few months later the site was gone.
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They never heard from Cicada again.
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One of the two winners, named Marcus Wanner, later elaborated further in a video by
YouTuber Nox Populi.
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Furthermore, Nox Populi himself claims to be a winner of the second puzzle so I reached
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out to him and this is some of what he had to say.
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After completing the final stages of the second puzzle Nox Populi received an invitation to
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join Cicada 3301.
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However, he was not invited to a website but was instead merely told to be patient.
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Then, around May of 2013, all communication with Cicada abruptly ceased.
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This was around the same time as when the website dedicated to the winners of the first
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puzzle was suddenly taken down.
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Nox Populi later contacted other winners of the second puzzle to compare notes and their
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experiences were identical.
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In his own words:
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"All the stories were the same, we were invited to join 3301, then something happened and
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silence followed a request for patience."
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Nox Populi suppose that roughly five others completed the second puzzle in contrast to
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the twenty-odd winners of the first.
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In regards to who or what Cicada is, Nox Populi believes they could be a remnant of the
cypherpunk
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movement of the late 80s and 90s.
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Essentially a small group of activists advocating widespread use of strong cryptography and
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privacy-enhancing technologies but he admits that there is no way to know for certain.
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If you want a far more comprehensive walkthrough of these puzzles as opposed to my brief
overview,
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Nox Populi has produced a number of videos on his channel which I highly recommend.
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While these accounts cannot be verified they do make for a very compelling argument as
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to what Cicada is.
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A group of anonymous developers seeking to develop privacy-conscious applications by
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recruiting talented individuals via cryptographic puzzles.
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Sure, it is not nearly as exciting as a shadow government seeking world domination or any
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of the more fantastical theories but it is certainly more plausible.
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You have to keep in mind that no part of these puzzles would have required more than one
person.
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The posters are often pointed to as evidence that this must be the work of some international
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organization but I beg to differ.
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I mean, right now, I could use any number of services to hire random persons around
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the globe to install posters for me.
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Although, given that no poster was located more than an hour away from an airport leads
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me to believe that one or multiple persons actually traveled to these locations.
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I mean, some of the posters were found within walking distance of an international airport.
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The fact is that anyone with a disposable income and enough time on their hands would
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be able to create the illusion of a vast secret network spanning the globe.
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Not saying that is the case with Cicada 3301 but it is nonetheless a possibility that cannot be
discounted.
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With all of that being said, I personally think a loose-knit group of privacy-minded
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hobby-cryptographers to be the most plausible explanation.
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Cicada made their last public statement in April of 2017, merely warning against
disinformation,
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but the current status of the third puzzle and the possibility of a fourth
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remains clouded in mystery.