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The man who solved the mysterious cicada 3301 puzzle

WHO’S BEHIND CICADA 3301?

Ericksson's impression of who might be behind the puzzle changed as he went along.
"Getting a phone number to call after solving one of the pieces of the puzzle was the first hint that this might not just be the work of a random Internet troll. This was definitely an unexpected turn," Eriksson says. "The plot thickened even more when receiving a number of GPS coordinates. I also can't help but to notice that the locations in question—USA, Poland, France, South Korea, and Australia—are all places with some of the most talented hackers and IT security researchers in the world."
Cicada's identity is one of the most hotly debated topics among people who try to solve the group’s now annual puzzles. Theories range from global banks that might be trying to set up new digital currencies to political think tanks to nefarious groups of hackers with anarchy on their minds. The most popular assumption, however, is a government intelligence agency like the CIA, NSA, and MI6 that may be trying to recruit talented cryptoanalysts like Eriksson—something Eriksson doesn’t think is likely.
"It is actually quite common for intelligence agencies and similar organizations to use non-traditional forms of recruitment, but in those cases they usually announce it officially rather than hiding their identity. One such example was the GCHQ challenge "Can you crack it?" a few years ago. It required deeper technical skills than the Cicada 3301 challenge, but the scope was much smaller and it required a lot less time to solve. If intelligence agencies used something like the Cicada 3301 puzzles to find people to recruit, they would probably end up with a lot of people that are not really interested in working for an organization such as theirs."
So if it’s not an intelligence agency, who does Eriksson believe is behind it?
"It is most likely an underground organization, not related to any government or intelligence agency," he says. "Based on the references in their challenges—the Agrippa poem by William Gibson, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake, The Book of The Law by Aleister Crowley—and their constant references to prime numbers and the like, they are likely intellectual, anti-establishment, ideologically driven and they seem to be valuing logical/analytical thinking highly. They seem to share a lot of ideology with the cryptoanarchy movement, and old-school hackers."
As for the complexity of the puzzles, Eriksson says that Cicada wouldn’t even need to be that large of a group. "It really only takes one dedicated person to plan it all, but if I had to guess I would say it's probably three to five with one of them being the main driving force. They probably spend about one to two months on setting everything up before each year's puzzle. I think it's possible to set up similar challenges in a much shorter amount of time as well, but not with as great attention to detail as Cicada 3301."
What’s most interesting is that, though Eriksson didn’t make it in time to be allowed through the last door, presumably a few select others did. This begs the question: Why aren’t those people talking? After all, if you’re smart enough to crack the Cicada puzzle, wouldn’t you want to brag about it and become the hero of the hacker world by revealing who’s behind it?
Eriksson says there have been some leaks, with people claiming that they are or have been part of Cicada 3301—but the problem is that none of them can be confirmed. However, he doesn’t think the identity of who’s behind Cicada will ever be revealed—even by a bona fide winner.
"I don't think that Cicada 3301 would reveal everything about themselves directly—or at all," he says. "They would probably only reveal their purpose or their ideology, and what they expect from you as a part of the group, and then use anonymous means of communication to keep their identity hidden."
"Regarding the desire to tell the world, I think that it depends on how you're wired and what drives you. In my work as a security researcher for some very secretive and sensitive clients, I'm used to keeping secrets. If you are working for a cause you truly believe in, I don't think keeping your mouth shut is that hard. The challenge for Cicada 3301 is to figure out which ones that truly believe in their cause."

ADVICE FOR CURRENT CICADA HOPEFULS

This year’s Cicada 3301 puzzle is currently going on, having revealed its start to interested puzzle solvers with an image of a cicada that read: "Hello. Epiphany is upon you. Your pilgrimage has begun. Enlightenment awaits. Good luck. 3301."
As no one is yet known to have solved the 2014 puzzle, the current Cicada hopefuls out there could learn a thing or two from Eriksson, who says he is not working on this year’s puzzle.
Though you don’t have to be a cryptoanalist savant, it doesn’t hurt to have years of logical and analytical training. "Logical and analytical reasoning has always come naturally for me," Eriksson says. "I started reading when I was four years old, I started programming when I was seven. My parents knew nothing about computers, so I had to learn everything by myself."
Eriksson says that due to his background in IT security, the cryptography and steganography related parts were actually quite easy. But when it came to the more esoteric references to poetry, literature, prime numbers, and number theory, "I believe my general interest in brain teasers and puzzles have been quite helpful," he says. "Also, in a lot of cases, I felt that Cicada 3301 and me seem to have a very similar way of thinking. There is something much deeper going on than just the puzzles per se."
As for his advice for this year’s a future Cicada cyber sleuths?
"Make sure that you have a good understanding of every part of the previous Cicada 3301 puzzles. If there is a subject you are not already well acquainted with, take your time to read and learn more about it. Try to solve as much as possible of the earlier puzzles by yourself rather than just reading through a write-up. For parts you do read, make sure you understand each step completely and try to think about how you would have arrived at the same conclusions by yourself."
"Last but not least, enjoy the ride."