8. Globe Trotting Genius Puzzle Cicada 3301 - CIA Test?
What do hexadecimal code, cryptography software, runes, William Blakes poetry and the dark web all have in common besides being plot points in Tom Cruise movies? Theyre required skills and knowledge for solving the Cicada 3301 puzzles. Each year the puzzle reappears with different language but the same purpose. In January 2012, someone released an encrypted message on the Internets favourite website, 4Chan. The puzzle read: Hello. We are looking for highly intelligent individuals. To find them, we have devised a test. There is a message hidden in the 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. While most people were busy looking at Lolcats, a few got busy decrypting the message. Using steganography in the initial release, people soon discovered a hidden URL that led to a clue. This clue led to Tor (the hidden interwebs), a congratulatory voicemail message in Texas, and GPS coordinates from across the globe, including Poland, Russia, Japan, France and America. At each of these locations, a flyer was posted featuring a cicada and a QR code. These led to additional clues. If the code-breakers completed the puzzle in a predetermined amount of time they would get to meet those behind Cicada and find enlightenment. Then again, this could be the worst job interview process since Vlad the Impaler was hiring for an emissary. Some people believe the puzzles are a recruitment test for the CIA, MI6 or NSA. Others believe it to be an underground anti-authoritarian organization with a desire to protect the privacy of citizens. It could be a joke where the successful code-breaker ends up charged with the preservation of the seven-year cicadas. No one knows. The Cicada puzzle for 2014 was posted in January and is still active. So if you have a brain for cryptography, poetry and numerology, give it a go. Then, let us know what the heck is going on.
