Of late, you can find several puzzle games online available in the market for users all around the world. These puzzle games are easy to play and you are not going to face any issues or confusion for sure. But Cicada 3301 is something different from those types of puzzle games that you might have played in the past with your family members and relatives in your free time. In the year 4th January 2012, the mysterious and hardest puzzle on the internet was launched named “Cicada 3301”. It is one of the most mysterious and elaborate puzzles available today for people across the world.
The main purpose of the puzzles each year has been to carefully recruit the best and most talented individuals. But the ultimate purpose is still not known to the people. As per some reviews, it has been stated that Cicada 3301 is mainly a secret society to improve privacy, cryptography, and anonymity. It would be better for you to understand that the name Cicada 3301 is given to a mysterious internet organization that has published sets of puzzles several times to recruit the most intelligent and fastest code breakers from all around the world. This puzzle was first published on sites like 4chan and Reddit and remains active for nearly a month. Do you want to know more about the Cicada 3301 and how it works? If yes is your answer, then here you will get all the information you are looking for right now!
Table of Contents
What are the Points of Cicada 3301?
The main point of Cicada 3301 is to recruit highly intelligent and educated fast code breakers from all over the world through sets of puzzles. They are looking for highly experienced and talented individuals. To search for them, they have devised a test. Also, there is a message hidden in the image and you need to find them to reach them.
When did Cicada 3301 start?
On the year 4th of January 2012, the mysterious and hardest puzzle on the internet was launched named “Cicada 3301”. It is one of the most mysterious and elaborate puzzles available today for people worldwide. It is a puzzle where you need to have a good deal of technical knowledge, and an understanding of number theory, including philosophy, classical music, knowledge of artist references, technological references, Mayan numerology, mathematics, cyberpunk literature, and the life cycles of cicadas. As per some speculations, Cicada 3301 is well-funded and large, considering that it has the deep knowledge to create such complex puzzles and at the same time, is capable of supporting the existence of clues in a large number of locations, all far from one another.
In the year 2012, it was started, and then soon after one year, it again started for the people to solve the puzzles. There are thousands of people who have tried to solve the puzzle from their side but are not able to do it due to a lack of intelligence and education skills. The puzzle looks similar to other online puzzles but is very difficult to solve. You should be well educated and highly intelligent to solve it easily without any problem. The mysterious organization Cicada 3301 has been releasing online encryptions since 2012, drawing top code-breakers to accept the challenges and nobody knows.
What is Cicada 3301?
Cicada 3301 is a virtual name given to a mysterious organization that has posted a set of puzzles to hire code breakers from all over the world. In year 4, January 2012, the first internet puzzle was conducted for the people. It is believed to be an internet mystery to recruit talented individuals worldwide. The second puzzle was posted soon after one year in the year January 4, 2013. In the year on January 4, 2014, the third puzzle was posted online. The first clue was also posted on Twitter for the people worldwide. However, the third puzzle is yet to be solved. These puzzles are solved by using various techniques like decryption, encryption, steganography, decoding ciphers using cryptographic techniques, and various code-breaking techniques.
Who is Cicada 3301?
Cicada 3301 is a nickname given to an organization and it is not related to a particular person. All the set of puzzles to hire code breakers mainly focused on steganography, data security, cryptography, and even internet anonymity. Most people have claimed recently that Cicada 3301 is a secret society with the goal of improving anonymity, privacy, and cryptography. Some others have claimed that Cicada 3301 is a cult or religion. By considering the official statement of people who won the 2012 puzzle, 3301 uses non-puzzle-based recruiting methods but created the puzzles because they were only looking for educated members with computer security and cryptography skills.
Who solved Cicada 3301?
Joel Eriksson is one of the few known people to have solved it through different techniques and strategies. He is a 34-year-old cryptosecurity researcher and developer from Sweden.
What is the mission of Cicada 3301?
The main mission of Cicada 3301 is still not known to the people due to its mysterious nature of work. As per some people’s reviews, it has been clear that it is mainly for hiring intelligent and educated people in the organization. But the type of organization is still not known to the people and expected to be revealed very soon in the future for sure. This mysterious organization is trying to recruit the most fastest and intelligent code breakers from all around the world.
What happens to those who solve Cicada 3301?
Those people who solve Cicada 3301 still in a dilemma and they are not able to understand what is the main reason behind creating those puzzles. In a recent interview, Puzzle solvers also mentioned the puzzles they have solved from their end and how it is not so easy for them in the beginning. It is an internet mystery and people are getting aware of it. Many folks have tried from their end but some of them become successful and some of them did not get much success in solving those highly complex problems. It is expected that soon a new puzzle set will be published on the site and people are waiting to try their luck. In the future, it has been clear that people will show more excitement and eagerness to solve these puzzles, and soon we will come to know about some more people who are giving it a try for sure.
Purpose of Cicada 3301
It is normally believed that the results of solving the puzzle would lead the individuals to better know who these people are. As a participant, you are going to solve one puzzle and then another puzzle will be given to you with a much-increasing difficulty level for sure. All the participants need to have high and strong knowledge regarding “Cryptography, coding, Steganography, Encryption, and many more. It is a famous mystery as people want to know who these people have started this puzzle. Also, want to know the main reason behind hiring such intelligent individuals in a team. As per certain claims, it is believed it to be a secret society while others normally believed that Cicada 3301 is a religion or cult.
At the beginning of 2013, it was the time of round 3 puzzles. Once again the image includes the message and the message led to the book and also book led to the link. The procedure was the same as before but this time message led to the book named “ Liber Primus” ( First book). The book was written in Latin and originated in Russia. The book was a mystery for most people and many are still not able to know the exact reason behind it. However, a significant portion of the book has yet to be translated. Out of 74 pages, only 19 pages have been successfully translated. In the year 2015 to now, no puzzles have been found but internet users all around the world waiting for this mystery.
Types of Clues and Facts About Cicada 3301
You might have played a normal puzzle game which sounds good but also very easy to play. You would be able to play those games easily without any hassle for sure. Unlike a simple puzzle, Cicada 3031 is completely different from those puzzles and you might be facing issues while solving those puzzles for sure. These puzzles need highly educated and experienced ones to solve it else you are just wasting your time. Cicada 3031 prepares the most difficult and unique type of clues that no person could solve without exact knowledge about various vital concepts of computer science. Here you will come to know about the types of clues and facts about Cicada 3301 as follows:
- A proper image will be given. After opening the image in a text-only editor WordPad, the participants will come to know that an encrypted message with given that had to be deciphered by using the Caesar Cipher decoding method. The clue later led to a URL.
- There are some clues that led to Mayan numerals, a confused mixture of book codes, letters, Holy Grail, King Arthur, and images.
- After completing all these clues, participants should check a phone number that directed them to the next clue to solve where there would be an image with a couple of prime numbers hidden in it. Now it is the duty of participants to find the other two prime numbers multiply those prime numbers together and also add a domain to it.
- The URL later shows a picture of a Cicada on the screen and a countdown was already set that would expire in a few days.
- After the completion of three days of lockdown, the website will reveal 14 GPS coordinates all around the world including Miami, Paris, Seoul, Hawaii, Seattle, and New Orleans.
- After visiting the given GPS coordinates locations, the participants found flyers taped to a streetlight with an image of a QR code and Cicada.
- The QR codes after scanning are linked to new URLs with feature lines line. It will lead to a Tor browser and clues will lead to the dark web too.
Resolution of Cicada 3301
Cicada 3301 is one of the most popular and debatable topics among people worldwide who solve all the technology-related puzzles. Marcus Wanner and Joel Eriksson are among the few people who have managed to solve cicada but still get the nice opportunity or chance to know who is behind all of this. Many people all around the world tried solving this mystery but still, they are not able to find the real truth behind it. Most people even claim that they understand everything about it and how it works but they are still not able to provide the evidence or proof needed to proceed further.
According to Marcus, the person who solved the Cicada 3301 puzzle was asked questions about their support of online privacy, information freedom, and even rejection of censorship. Those who answered correctly at this stage were invited to a private meeting, where they were given a project to complete at a given time. He could not complete his work on the given method of general decryption and the website was removed immediately.
According to Joel, he was given an address on the anonymous Tor network. The coordinates led to telephone poles in countries across the world, including France, Spain, Poland, America, and Russia, therefore Joel had to look for other people for help. However, when he reached there, Cicada 3301 had put a message stating that they were sad in the groups of people that had formed to share parts of the puzzles that were discovered without any member completing all the given steps along with the ways. He took the help of others to get there.
Lastly, you need to understand that Cicada 3301 is not yet proven to be a legal intelligence agency or any similar organization to use non-traditional forms of recruitment or an underground organization not related to any official purposes. The mission of a secret underground organization is still not known to the people and research is still under process.
Conclusion
Finally, you are aware of the Cicada 3301 and how it was solved by Joel and Marcus. All the above-mentioned points will help you know what is Cicada 3301 and how it becomes an internet mystery for users worldwide. You should note that the Cicada puzzle is not as simple as most of the other puzzles available online and you need to be very educated and highly intelligent for solving the complex puzzles for sure.
Just try it from your end and share your valuable experience here with us right now!
