Cicada 3301 refers to three sets of puzzles posted online under the name "3301" between 2012 and 2014. The first puzzle began on January 4, 2012, on the website 4chan and lasted nearly a month. A second set of puzzles started on January 4, 2013, one year later. A third set began after a new clue was shared on Twitter on January 4, 2014. This third puzzle has not been solved. The goal of the puzzles was to find "intelligent individuals" by challenging them to solve a series of difficult problems. No new puzzles were posted on January 4, 2015. A new clue appeared on Twitter on January 5, 2016. Cicada 3301 sent its final confirmed message, signed with OpenPGP, in April 2017. This message stated that any puzzle not signed with OpenPGP was not valid.

The puzzles involved topics such as data security, cryptography, steganography, and internet anonymity. Experts have described Cicada 3301 as "the most complex and mysterious puzzle of the internet era." It was listed by The Washington Post as one of the "top 5 eeriest, unsolved mysteries of the internet." Many people have guessed that the puzzles were created by groups like the NSA, CIA, MI6, Mossad, or a secret organization, or that they were part of a "Masonic conspiracy" or a cyber group. Others believe Cicada 3301 is an alternate reality game. However, no company or person has tried to make money from it.

Purpose

The purpose of the puzzles each year was to find "people who are very smart." However, the main reason for creating them is still not known. Some ideas suggest that Cicada 3301 might be a secret group trying to make better ways to keep information safe and private, or it could be a cult or religion. According to people who solved the 2012 puzzle, Cicada 3301 usually finds members without using puzzles. However, they created the puzzles to look for people who have skills in codes and computer security.

Resolution

The first puzzle in 2013 was solved by Marcus Wanner. He explained that people who solved the puzzles were asked questions about their support for free information, online privacy, and opposition to censorship. Those who answered well were invited to a private forum, where they were asked to create and complete a project meant to support the group’s goals. Marcus did not complete his work on a method to decode information, and the website was later removed. Nox Populi, another winner, shared her experience with the project on her YouTube channel, which has the same name. The channel’s description says: “A series by one of the 2013 winners of the Cicada 3301 puzzle, showing the step-by-step solving process and discussing a more realistic, fact-based view of the organization.” Today, she helps manage community activities about Cicada 3301 on a Discord server. Other groups of solvers still meet on message boards and forums.

The Cicada 3301 puzzles used many different ways to communicate, including the Internet, telephone, original music, bootable Linux CDs, digital images, physical paper signs, and pages from unpublished books written in runes. There were two songs, “The Instar Emergence” and “Interconnectedness,” that went along with the puzzles. However, neither song was part of a standard collection, and the composers or performers are unknown. Cicada 3301 also created a book called Liber Primus (Latin for First Book), which has many pages, only some of which have been decoded. The puzzles used many different methods to hide or encrypt information, and they referenced books, poetry, artwork, and music. Each puzzle was signed with the same OpenPGP private key to prove it was real.

Allegations of illegal activity

In 2012, the Investigative Police (PDI) in the Los Andes Province of Chile said that Cicada 3301 is a "hacker group" and did illegal things. Cicada 3301 responded by sharing a signed statement using PGP, which said they did not take part in illegal activities.

In July 2015, a group that called itself "3301" hacked into Planned Parenthood's database. However, this group did not seem to be connected to Cicada 3301. Cicada 3301 later shared another PGP-signed statement, saying they were not linked to this group and did not support the use of their name, number, or symbols. The hacker group confirmed later that they were not connected to Cicada 3301.

Legacy and popular culture

In 2014, the United States Navy created a code-breaking challenge inspired by the Cicada 3301 puzzles. This challenge was named Project Architeuthis.

A 2014 episode of the television show Person of Interest, titled "Nautilus," included a large-scale game similar to the Cicada 3301 puzzles. Both the game and the Cicada 3301 puzzles involve a series of worldwide code-breaking challenges. However, the game in "Nautilus" uses images of a nautilus shell instead of the cicada logo. The show's creator, Jonathan Nolan, and producer, Greg Plageman, said in an interview that the Cicada 3301 puzzles inspired the episode. They explained that they used the concept of Cicada 3301 to create a story connected to their show.

The Cicada 3301 organization is the subject of the 2021 film Dark Web: Cicada 3301. The film was directed by Alan Ritchson, who also co-wrote the script with Joshua Montcalm. It features actors Jack Kesy, Conor Leslie, Ron Funches, Kris Holden-Ried, and Andreas Apergis. The film follows a hacker who joins Cicada 3301's recruitment game while avoiding the National Security Agency (NSA).

The Cicada 3301 puzzles are an important part of the visual novel Anonymous;Code.