Are you fond of puzzles? How about decrypting codes? Well, then tonight's topic might be your forte!
Did you know that an anonymous organization named Cicada 3301 once broke the internet with its ever mind-blowing puzzles? In the year 2012, a mysterious internet puzzle hunt has spread across the world. The very first puzzle started on January 4, 2012, on an anonymous English-language imageboard website called 4Chan. The puzzle began with a cryptic invitation for intelligent individuals particularly codebreakers, those who are experts in data security, cryptography, steganography, and internet anonymity.
The invitation image accordingly enclosed a message; the message leads to a book, then the book produces link that plays pre-recorded messages.
Below are the sequences of the 3 puzzles.
FIRST PUZZLE
SECOND PUZZLE
THIRD PUZZLE
Moving aside, individuals who solved the first puzzle were emailed and warned not to collaborate with others. The second and third puzzles were solved similarly to the first one. Right after the first puzzle, 14 locations in 5 different countries are pointed by lists of coordinates. Participants who ventured outside found posters with cicada symbols and QR codes on them. The code is then linked to an image that enclosed a riddle that eventually leads to a book entitled "Agrippa, A Book of the Dead".
Rumors had it that the mystery puzzles were works of a secret society or intelligence agency.
Strangely, after the last puzzle, some sort of conclusion was posted in the year 2015.
However, information leaked from an email received by some of the hunt finalists stated that the aim of the puzzle was to look for like-minded individuals. The anonymous organization was said to plan to reinforce privacy rights and anonymity. Since then, no one ever heard from them again. Just like that, Cicada 3301 disappeared.
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