Cicada 3301

Overview

Cicada 3301 is an annual online scavenger hunt in which the participant is asked to complete a series of complex and interconnected puzzles using various clues embedded in multimedia files. Purportedly designed to recruit “intelligent individuals” and heavily focused on data security, cryptography, and steganography, the mysterious puzzle-solving challenge has garnered considerable attention on the web since its launch in January 2012.

Background

On January 4th, 2012, an image of a text-based puzzle was posted to 4chan’s /b/ (random) and /x/ (paranormal) boards, which challenged the readers to find a hidden message in the file.

The mysterious post was quickly met by various speculations and theories surrounding its true intent, with some simply interpreting the message as yet another alternate reality game (ARG), while others suspected that it was a recruitment program for the United States intelligence community.

Notable Developments

2012

The first clue in the puzzle was retrieved by opening the image file in a text-editing application, which revealed the following message encoded as a Caesar Cipher:

TIBERIVSCLAVDIVSCAESAR says “lxxt>33m2mqkyv2gsq3q=w]O2ntk”

Once decrypted, the text revealed a URL address to an image of a wooden duck accompanied by another cryptic message (shown below). The image was then processed through OutGuess, a steganography program for hiding and finding messages within images, which led to additional clues. Although it remains unclear how many participants completed the puzzle, at least one San Francisco-based self-taught programmer by the handle “Tekk.nolagi” is believed to have solved it, according to the WNYC.