Cicada 3301 is a nickname given to three sets of puzzles posted under the name "3301" online between 2012 and 2014. The first puzzle started on January 2, 2012, on 4chan[1] and ran for nearly a month. A second round of puzzles began one year later on January 4, 2013, and then a third round following the confirmation of a fresh clue posted on Twitter on January 4, 2014.[2][3] The third puzzle has yet to be solved. The stated intent was to recruit "intelligent individuals" by presenting a series of puzzles to be solved; no new puzzles were published on January 4, 2015. A new clue was posted on Twitter on January 5, 2016.[4][5] Cicada 3301 posted their last verified OpenPGP-signed message in April 2017, denying the validity of any unsigned puzzle.[6]
The puzzles focused heavily on data security, cryptography, steganography, and internet anonymity.[7][8][9] It has been called "the most elaborate and mysterious puzzle of the internet age",[10] and is listed as one of the "top 5 eeriest, unsolved mysteries of the internet" by The Washington Post,[11] and much speculation exists as to its function. Many have speculated that the puzzles are a recruitment tool for the NSA, CIA,[12] MI6, a "Masonic conspiracy",[13] or a cyber mercenary group.[1][7] Others have stated Cicada 3301 is an alternate reality game, although no company or individual has attempted to monetize it.[10] Some of the final contestants believe that Cicada 3301 is a remnant of the late 1980s and 1990s Cypherpunk movement.[14][better source needed]
^ ab"The internet mystery that has the world baffled over its difficulty". The Daily Telegraph. 25 November 2013. Archived from the original on 25 November 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
^Bell, Chris. "Cicada 3301 update: the baffling internet mystery is back". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on April 12, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
^Hern, Alex (January 10, 2014). "Cicada 3301: I tried the hardest puzzle on the internet and failed spectacularly". The Guardian. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016.
^Puzzle Image, archived from the original on 2016-01-16, retrieved 2016-05-14
^Cicada 3301. "Cicada 3301's new puzzle (Dead Image)". Archived from the original on May 7, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Threat Stack (19 April 2017). "Cicadas & Security, Part 2: When a Verified PGP Key Takes You on a Trip to the Desert". Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
^ abLipinski, Jed. "Chasing the Cicada: Exploring the Darkest Corridors of the Internet". Mental_Floss. Archived from the original on 20 September 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
^Ernst, Douglas (November 26, 2013). "Secret society seeks world's brightest: Recruits navigate 'darknet' filled with terrorism, drugs". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
^Bell, Chris (7 January 2014). "Cicada 3301 update: the baffling internet mystery is back". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
^ abScott, Sam (16 December 2013). "Cicada 3301: The most elaborate and mysterious puzzle of the internet age". Metro. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
^Dewey, Caitlin (21 May 2014). "Five of the Internet's eeriest, unsolved mysteries". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
^"Is mystery internet challenge a recruiting tool for the CIA?". Channel 4 News. 27 November 2013. Archived from the original on 28 August 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
^Vincent, James (7 January 2014). "Masonic conspiracy or MI6 recruitment tool? Internet mystery Cicada 3301 starts up again". The Independent. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
Cicada3301 is a nickname given to three sets of puzzles posted under the name "3301" online between 2012 and 2014. The first puzzle started on January...
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eggs. Branches of young trees may die as a result.[failed verification] Cicada3301 List of Cicadidae genera The Auchenorrhyncha were formerly part of the...
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cryptographer William Easttom (Chuck Easttom). The puzzles that are presented by Cicada3301 incorporate steganography with cryptography and other solving techniques...
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a key text. Book ciphers have consistently been used throughout the Cicada3301 mystery. In Colony, a television series, the resistance movement uses...
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2018. In 2021, she appeared as a federal judge in the film Dark Web: Cicada3301. Snow is a two-time Gemini Award winner, winning Best Lead Actress in...
messages, contact by extraterrestrial life-forms, construction plans and a Cicada3301 recruitment program. Despite Google having clarified the channel's purpose...
Technoseum – Technology museum in Mannheim, Germany Battelle Memorial Institute Cicada3301 Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Edge Foundation, Inc....
band Wolfmother was raised and formed here. A poster traced back to the Cicada3301 online puzzle was in this suburb. At the 2021 census, the population...
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