Cityvisitor blog

Cicada’s better than a who did it mystery

If you love a good mystery or a mind-boggling puzzle, you’ll love Cicada 3301.

For anyone who hasn’t heard of this already, it’s not the latest must-have item on this year’s Christmas lists, but a secret organisation that has posted intricate codes on the internet for genius members of the public to crack.

Its latest baffler was posted on message boards in 2012 and contained an image containing code alongside the message: “Hello. We are looking for highly intelligent individuals. 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. 3301”

For many, this challenge has been too irresistible to ignore. The extremely complex code is said to have led some of the world’s best code breakers and cryptographers on a trail down telephone lines, around the world and into all kinds of ‘darknet’ networks.

It appears no-one has broken the code yet and no-one is sure who the organisation is and what it might be trying to recruit people for, although speculation has included terrorist groups, the CIA or just a prank.

One such person, Joel Eriksson, told The Daily Telegraph: “If something is too easy or too routine, I quickly lose interest. But it seemed like the challenge was a bit harder than a Caesar cipher after all. I was hooked.”

So, if you’re getting bored with the latest addictive game on your smartphone or tablet, why not have a go at cracking Cicada 3301, it might keep you busy for a while.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10468112/The-internet-mystery-that-has-the-world-baffled.html

 

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