Solution1/6

As of November 22, '24, we have come up with the following theory:

Cicada 3301 is a single person, and probably immature also. The main point of reference for the first point are the timings and dates, which do not span the entire day/week respectively. We also think that realistic places of residency for Cicada are either coast (east/west) of the United States or Canada, the United Kingdom, or mainland Europe. Our second point, that Cicada is probably immature, then comes from the fact that we were able to figure out that Cicada is very likely to be a single person, as any sophisticated individual would've thought through how to make it seem like one person is actually multiple.

Let's go over this theory little by little.

Why is Cicada 3301 just a single person?

The main point of reference for this are the times and dates of each post Cicada has made (excluding potentially automated posts). The timings do not span the entire day, as we would expect if Cicada were multiple people spanning the globe. Instead, they're only in the morning, or in the late afternoon and at night. The dates also do not span the entire week, but only Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Why is it likely for Cicada 3301 to reside in the US/CA, the UK or Europe?

In this document, there are the times and dates for each time Cicada posted something listed (excluding potentially automated posts). They're all in UTC, to make things easier. However, converting them to other time zones, the only realistic ones that appear are:

• Eastern Time
• Pacific Time
• UTC+1/European Standard Time
• UTC (formerly Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT)

As for all others, the dates and times come out as not realistic; Any sane person would not be awake during those times.

Why is Cicada 3301 likely to be immature?

This is more or less explained in its entirety in the main section at the top of the document. Near and I came to this conclusion because we were able to come to the conclusion that Cicada is likely a single person in the first place. As stated above, any sophisticated individual would make sure that their lie of I am actually an international organization would make sense. However, for Cicada, it does not. There are many contradictions, and the dates and times don't align with that claim.

The leaked email from the #1 puzzle2/6

3301 cicada, this has been modified from your orriginal text in order to remove your uber sekret 0hd4y identifications signature. If you think it belongs to any particular applicant it does not; and you DO know what I mean. u mad?

---BEGIN FU ENCODING STRIPPED MESSAGE---
DO NOT SHARE THIS INFORMATION!

Congratulations your month of testing has come to an end out of the thousands who attempted it you are one of only a few who have succeeded.

There is one last step although there will not be any hidden codes or secret messages or physical treasure hunts this last step is only honesty we have always been honest with you and we shall continue to be honest with you and we expect you to be honest with us in return.

You have all wondered who we are and so we shall now tell you we are an international group we have no name we have no symbol we have no membership rosters we do not have a public website and we do not advertise ourselves we are a group of individuals who have proven ourselves much like you have by completing this recruitment contest and we are drawn together by common beliefs a careful reading of the texts used in the contest would have revealed some of these beliefs that tyranny and oppression of any kind must end that censorship is wrong and that privacy is an inalienable right.

We are not a *hacker* group nor are we a *warez* group we do not engage in illegal activity nor do our members if you are engaged in illegal activity we ask that you cease any and all illegal activities or decline membership at this time we will not ask questions if you decline however if you lie to us we will find out.

You are undoubtedly wondering what it is that we do we are much like a *think tank* in that our primary focus is on researching and developing techniques to aid the ideas we advocate liberty privacy security you have undoubtedly heard of a few of our past projects and if you choose to accept membership we are happy to have you on-board to help with future projects.

Please reply to this email with the answers to the next few questions to continue:

* Do you believe that every human being has a right to privacy and anonymity and is within their rights to use tools which help obtain and maintain privacy cash strong encryption anonymity software etc?

* Do you believe that information should be free?

* Do you believe that censorship harms humanity?

We look forward to hearing from you.

3301
---END FUUUUUUUUUUU---

We look forward to hearing from you.

Anonymous

This email is not the actual version, but merely a 'transcription' of sorts. This has been paraphrased and simplified to remove and and all identifying information; Cicada 3301 had 'personalised' all copies of the email to rat out any potential leakers. However, this version removes that. It is also very curious that whoever shared it knew of this fact.

However, there are also a multitude of inconsistencies, such as You have undoubtedly heard of a few of our past projects. This line doesn't make sense, as that would mean that Cicada had to have been public at least once before, but then chose to become secretive? Also, the use of a Gmail account while [advocating] for privacy is a really bad look, as Gmail is not exactly 100% secure. Something like Hushmail would've been a much better alternative.

The direct source for the above is found here. Other variations of the email are listed below:

• https://pastebin.com/rn4gTF1Z (Archived)
• https://uncovering-cicada.fandom.com/wiki/The_Leaked_Email#Email_is_PGP_Verified (Archived)
• https://pastebin.com/Nj8gDqFG (Archived)
• https://www.reddit.com/r/cicada/comments/1cb3u1f/another_recruitment_message_with_a_different/

The Warning3/6

The following message was posted to Pastebin on January 4, 2013:

I apologize for the sometimes improper language in this text. English is not my first language, and I have also used software to mask authorship so 3301/Cicada does not know who publishes this. Thank you.

I was part of what you call 3301/Cicada for more than a decade, and I'm here to warn you: stay away. This is a dangerous organization. While I agree with many of the goals, their ways are nefarious. In fact, I think it is like a left-hand path religion disguised as a progressive scientific organization. I realize this is a strong statement, but I will provide important evidence to support these claims.

For those of you who have not heard of organized 3301/Cicada, I will share some background information using publicly referenceable. According to leaked documents during the last round of recruitment they are "much like a think tank in that [their] primary focus is on researching and developing techniques to aid the ideas [they] advocate: liberty, privacy, and security." This is partly true. This is what initially attracted me many years ago.

The first public appearance was the recruitment campaign that began in parts that "can not be mentioned" of the Internet, where targeted hackers and programmers and people with a strong background with series of puzzles of increasing difficulty. This has been well documented over the Internet and will not repeat it here. The tests covered a wide range of topics: cryptography, steganography, and number theory, and classical literature, art, darknet, and computer skills including programming, philosophy, music, etc. even more interesting is the fact puzzle use multiple forms of communication: the Internet, phone , darknet (TOR), and the physical world even in the form of papers of 14 that appear simultaneously in all parts of the world (North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, etc.).

As was presented each puzzle, it was solved by fewer individuals. What was initially several thousand workers solving puzzles in beginning, very few solved all. Less than 1% in fact. This, of course, the intention was. I was not directly involved in these tests, and in fact I do not agree with the idea of recruiting from the public right from the start. Until that moment, all recruitment was done in person by people who know recruits.

I was recruited in the organization I when I was an officer in the service of my country for many years. I was a career officer and showed great promise, and was quickly promoted. Finally I arrived a high position I was approached by my superior. I will not say titles for anonymity.

He said he was very impressed with my work, and he asked me what my goals are: personal and professional. Professionally I had my eyes on the top. Personally, I would eventually like to settle down and start a family, but this was not in the foreseeable future, because my career is often forced to be away from home for long periods of time.

We began to meet a few times a week for coffee at any time we were in the same place. We would like to discuss a variety of topics: science, philosophy, religion, politics, mathematics, and other that ultimately play games and we discuss these issues. The games of chess, backgammon, and go (also known as BADUK) were the top three. I did not know, but I was being investigated for membership at this time.

As it turned out, my opinions and my goals were very much in line with that organization: at the political level, I lean towards freedom, which is called at the time. I am well-educated in science, mathematics, and foreign policy. I was non-religious at the time in those first days. Philosophically, I agree with the ideas of Sartre and Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and so I believe in random universe - one in humans that were not more than a coincidence. No absolute moral right and wrong. That the value of a man is what he does. I also believe that we can (and should) aspire to reach the next "level" - as individuals and mankind as a whole: Nietzsche "Übermensch". I didn’t know then, but this is one of the main focuses of the Cicada. They believe they possess wisdoms to transform human to Übermensch. Cicada give knowledge to members slowly as they progress up pyramid.

Finally, after more than a year of being examined without knowing it, I was invited for the organization. I accepted with gratitude. It was here: what I wanted from the beginning. A group of like-minded individuals, all incredibly talented and connected, and to work together for the common good: the good of mankind. It take many years to learn true nature of Cicada though.

Before going further, I have to explain some things about the organization. With no particular order:

Origin:

• Established initially organized by a group of professional military officers, diplomats, and academics who were dissatisfied with the direction of the world
• The organization is in no way linked to any military, or the government of any country. However, they recruit often among high government officials to gain more power

Structure:

• They use multiple structures within one global structure.
• There is a decentralized cell structure, such as. However, some cells have a higher "rank" than others, which led to a kind of hierarchy, despite decentralization in general.
• Practice strict "compartmentalizing", so, many of the cells or organizations: 1) have no knowledge of other cells or organisations, and 2) often do not know they belong to (or controlled) and organized by the Cicada.
• Within each cell, there is usually a strict military-like structure.
• Cell-hierarchy is also often in a military-like structure.
• There are different cell dedicated to different areas: technology and research, foreign policy, etc..
• It is possible that the cells are founded to disagree with other cells, or even the objectives of the organization itself ("If you can not beat them, control them").

Beliefs:

• Believe in Heylighen’s ideas on global brain. In fact, the idea of global brain with humans as individual neurons arise on a regular basis.
• believe in absolute freedom. Individual and the information.
• believe in the philosophy of the Jesuit "the end justifies the means." Through this idea to justify their actions do not always follow their own belief systems and philosophies.
• other philosophy they use is "what you resist persists" by Jung, and the Jesuit corollary "create what you fear most." For example, if you are afraid of resistance and rebellion, then send operators to create resistance and rebellion. This way, you can direct the energy of the people, embrace it, let it dwindle, and at the same time minimize the damage.
• they believe that there is no inherent meaning to anything. That all things are “empty and meaningless” and that “all things are always whole, perfect, and complete”
• They believe that within each person there is a "God." Not "God" in the sense of most religions, it is more like Übermensch in the writings of Nietzsche. They also see the Global Brain as another kind of "God"
• Their mantra is "I am always enough." (Again, Übermensch)
• teach followers to "Find a death every day." It doesn’t mean literal death. Instead there is a double meaning: 1) know you're going to die, so, nothing matters, and 2) Find the death of the “I” or the ego.
• They teach five-levels view of human. However, they eventually put five levels down to one thing (ie “There is no soul distinct from the body”). This is a feature of the left hand path belief systems.
• They teach that absolute morality does not exist
• They teach there is no "real" reality. That all reality is dependent on the observer.
• They teach "There is no salvation in life; For there is nothing from which we must be saved." I believed this for long time.

I thought many these things already when I joined, mostly. I believed more when I learned more and more about Cicada teachings. Generally agreed with the Cicada ideas. And as I risen in the organization, I have learned more about their beliefs.

Now I am a father and husband. And I have come to search for the one true God and his son. This is why I have no choice but to leave this group who do not believe in Him. I encourage everyone to do the same. Worry not for you power here on earth, but only for your rewards in heaven. I am saved now from hell, and I ask you do same. Please read the Romans 10:13 and call on the name of the Lord.

The reason this is included is because there are striking similarities between this text and those of Cicada;

1. The use of a double-space; Cicada uses a distinct double-space between sentences, which is also often used in this 'warning'. This may not be visible here. Go to the link to see it clearly.
2. The use of simple, short sentences; Cicada always talks in short sentences, rather than long/complicated ones.
3. The use of the 'name' 3301/Cicada; the only other entity to use this version of the name Cicada to refer to Cicada 3301 is... Cicada themselves as the title of this message from 2017.

Much less obvious is that, despite the large amount of grammatical errors (which hint at the author not having English as their first language), every word is spelled correctly, which contradicts that theory. To us, this indicates that every error is forced, and that Cicada 3301 is the actual author of this message.

What happened after the #1 puzzle4/6

According to sources 3 and 4, the winners of the first puzzle were given the task to 'create' a so-called 'dead man's switch', which could be used by whistle-blowers to release information if they were injured, missing, imprisoned, or killed.

However, as both news articles state, the winners could not work together, as by using messages such as individuals, rather than groups, or teams, and the fact that during the last stages of the puzzle, each person was not allowed to work with any of the others, in the end all it lead to was a group of disorganized people, who had never interacted before. Before long, the constant arguing lead to demotivated members, which lead to each one quitting, before the website dedicated to them, along with the server, were quietly shut down.

Own opinion:

I personally agree that by using terms such as, We want the best, not the followers, it gave those who did find the posters first a sense of 'importance'. I specifically want to highlight the words "found the posters first", because Cicada stated in their first post that they were seeking intelligent individuals. Finding a poster first has absolutely nothing to do with intelligence. So, with this, Cicada kind of shot themselves in the foot. And I don't just want to highlight that finding posters first has nothing to do with intelligence. As a matter of fact, no part of the puzzle had anything to do with intelligence, just patience. Figuring out a riddle, such as the meaning of a poem, can be done by anyone. Those who can focus better, not those who are smarter, just so happen to have a better chance at figuring it out faster.

Of course, this is just my own opinion. I may be wrong here; the human mind isn't my specialty.

What happened after the #2 puzzle5/6

Most of the information which follows comes from Nox Populi, who now goes by 'illustrious'. I will refer to her simply as 'Nox'.

Nox had been quickly convinced of Cicada's validity by Marcus Wanner (a winner of the first puzzle). After winning the puzzle, she received an invitation from Cicada, which she promptly accepted, thinking that she and other winners of the puzzle were going to also have to work on some grand project, similar to the winners of the first puzzle. Here, however, things took an unexpected turn. Cicada suddenly cut all communication with seemingly everybody, and vanished without a trace.

There were numerous theories circulating around regarding the disappearance of Cicada. Nox' theory is that because the dates line up with the Edward Snowden leaks, and Cicada's previous project's lack of results, they just accepted that this was not going to work, and simply abandoned the winners. Nox also stated: It turns out that this is actually a really bad way to get people to work together. In reference to the first puzzle.

Own opinion

Had Cicada never used terminology such as intelligent individuals, We want the best, not the followers, and hadn't made the puzzles so forcibly eerie, they would've likely never needed a second puzzle. Furthermore, if they themselves claim to be people who proved themselves, why do they need more persons on their team? Additionally, who made their test(s)? Who recruited them?

Lastly, I want to discuss that last sentence by Nox: It turns out that this is actually a really bad way to get people to work together. I am almost certain that Cicada's choice of wording and terminology attracted not those who actually had sufficient brainpower, but who thought that they had sufficient brainpower, or that this choice of words made those who passed think that they had what it takes. Thus, most of the winners of the first puzzle were too caught up in their own ego, and made work hard for the others. After that, coding slowed down, and eventually halted, ending in almost all of the new recruits leaving.

Times & Dates6/6

A great resource for the following is this world map showing every time zone as of 2024. (Archived version here)

The following is all (important) dates and times on/at which Cicada posted/did something. All time zones have been converted to UTC to make things easier, but the original TZ, assuming it's known, will be listed. All times are in the 24-hour format, and are listed at HH:mm:SS.

2012

• The first image: January 4, 2012 (WED); 21:28:15 | UTC (actual time zone unkknown, converted from presumed ET1 )
• The duck image: January 4, 2012 (WED); unknown time, presumanly before final.jpg | unknown time zone
• The first reddit post: January 4, 2012 (WED); 18:19:23 | UTC1, converted from UTC+1
• The last reddit post (Valēte!): February 6, 2012 (MON); 23:27:05 | UTC, converted from UTC+1
• Cicada's response to being accused of hacking: April 18, 2012 (WED); 17:46:17 | UTC, converted from CT ⁝ the signature is dated April 18, 2012 (WED); 17:41:42 | UTC; 4 minutes and 35 seconds earlier

2013

• The first tweet: January 8, 2013 (TUE); 01:14:02 | utc

2014

• The first tweet/the first image: January 6, 2014 (MON); 06:59:24 | utc

2015

Cicada's response to being attributed to an attack on Planned Parenthood:

• Pastebin: July 28, 2015 (TUE); 05:24:22 | UTC, converted from CT ⁝ The signature is dated July 28, 2015 (TUE); 05:12:39 | UTC; 11 minutes and 43 seconds earlier
• Twitter/𝕏: July 28, 2015 (TUE); 05:35:20 | UTC

2016

• The message: January 6, 2016 (WED); 04:44:50 | UTC

2017

• The message²: April 4, 2017 (TUE); 23:35:37 | UTC, converted from CT

Miscellaneous

• The warning: jan. 4, 2013 (fri); 08:56:03 | UTC, converted from CT

Footnotes

¹So, converted to almost all US TZs, the times would be:

• ET; UTC-5 : 13:19 ; 01:19 PM
• CT; UTC-6 : 12:19 ; 10:19 PM
• MT; UTC-7 : 11:19 ; 11:19 AM
• PT; UTC-8 : 10:19 ; 10:19 AM

Due to this, it would be logical to assume that the time the first image (final.jpg) was uploaded is 16:28:15 ET -> 21:28:15 UTC. Chronologically, this would make sense, considering that the subreddit had to have been created before final.jpg was uploaded to 4chan.

²It seems strange not to post the message publicly, but instead hide it on Pastebin.