Who doesn’t like puzzles and mysteries that challenges our brains and boggles our mind? The internet has always been filled with some weird shit some too weird for normal humans to process.
We have all heard of the ‘Deep Dark Web’ (If not then Read the article on Deep Dark Web on Guys world Click here and know there are strange and dangerous places on the web that one should not visit. There are strange and weird places and content on the normal internet too that can boggle your mind.
One such strange content was the case of Cicada 3301 which is termed as the most mysterious puzzle on the internet for the third year running. Cicada 3301 is a name given to a mysterious faceless secret organization that on six occasions has posted a set of very complex puzzles and alternate reality games to recruit code breakers from the general public.
The first 3301 puzzles began appearing in January 2012, they were initially posted on websites like 4Chan and Reddit with a message saying, “We are looking for highly intelligent individuals,” it said. “To find them, we have devised a test. There is a message hidden in this image. Find it, and it will lead you on the road to finding us. We look forward to meeting the few that will make it all the way through. Good luck.”
Another message posted on the forums on 4Chan site read: “There is a message hidden in this image. Find it and it will lead you on the road to finding us. We look forward to meeting the few who will make it all the way through. Good Luck. 3301.”
The first of these internet puzzles started on January 4, 2012, and ran for about one month. A second set of puzzles began one year later on January 4, 2013, a third set of puzzles were posted on Twitter on January 4, 2014. The stated intent of these mysterious messages was to recruit “intelligent individuals” by presenting a series of puzzles which were to be solved, each in order, to find the next clue and so forth.
The Cicada 3301 puzzle is an advanced level of a scavenger hunt (requires travel to different countries and places to collect the next clue), and no one knows who’s behind it. Clues like breadcrumbs are then seeded across the web, almost all of which require extensive knowledge of cryptography and obscure texts to solve them.
Many have speculated that the puzzles are a recruitment tool for the NSA, CIA, MI6, KGB, or a cyber mercenary group looking for intelligent people to work for them. We know for sure that thousands of people signed up to solve the cryptic puzzle but there is absolutely Zero information if anyone has ever won and got recruited. We assume someone did solve them and probably got recruited as the puzzle closed within one month and only resurfaced the next year.
You can certainly try, although you probably wouldn’t get very far. You will need a strong knowledge of cryptography, programming, computer networks and much more to ever solve the puzzle.
The ultimate outcome of all four rounds of Cicada 3301 recruiting is still a mystery. The final known puzzles became both highly complex and individualized as the game unfolded. Anonymous individuals have claimed to have “won,” but verification from the organization was never made and the individuals making the claim have not been forthcoming with information.
We wonder what happened to the people who did get recruited. Share your thoughts and comments below.
