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Cicada 3301

Wed Nov 27, 2013 11:22 am

Has anyone heard about/read this story? Absolutely fascinating. And it really reminded me of the build up to the TH album and all the Cosecha number clues. Is it possible that this was the inspiration behind the album launch campaign? Give it a read, really interesting stuff that I think people on here will enjoy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/i ... ffled.html

Wed Nov 27, 2013 11:39 am

It's pretty fascinating. I'm thinking about taking some classes / self teaching in cryptography. I love it.

Although I was the plum sitting here writing one time pad programs during cosecha even though I really knew for real that it was just a random series of numbers. They weren't gonna turn round like "we're not releasing the album cause you didnt solve it LOL!" hahah.

Seriously though, it's fascinating stuff and vital for the future of civilisation frankly. I wish I was good enough for the cicada thing haha.

Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:44 pm

Techboy wrote:It's pretty fascinating. I'm thinking about taking some classes / self teaching in cryptography. I love it.

Although I was the plum sitting here writing one time pad programs during cosecha even though I really knew for real that it was just a random series of numbers. They weren't gonna turn round like "we're not releasing the album cause you didnt solve it LOL!" hahah.

Seriously though, it's fascinating stuff and vital for the future of civilisation frankly. I wish I was good enough for the cicada thing haha.


Would've made the campaign a lot more interesting though :lol:

Seriously though, this is absolutely incredible and so interesting. I too wish I had the computer knowledge, let alone intelligence to be able to par take in this weird game.

Wed Nov 27, 2013 2:56 pm

Techboy wrote:It's pretty fascinating. I'm thinking about taking some classes / self teaching in cryptography. I love it.

Although I was the plum sitting here writing one time pad programs during cosecha even though I really knew for real that it was just a random series of numbers. They weren't gonna turn round like "we're not releasing the album cause you didnt solve it LOL!" hahah.

Seriously though, it's fascinating stuff and vital for the future of civilisation frankly. I wish I was good enough for the cicada thing haha.


Imagine how fun it would be to have the skills to get involved in that thing. We all found the BoC trail and codebreaking exhilarating but this is just a whole different level. Amazing.

Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:09 pm

I really hope it's for something interesting and worthwhile, and not a horrible campaign of some sorts.

Cicada 3301

Wed Nov 27, 2013 9:16 pm

It might also be something like the "Mein Fraulein" messages, which were an experiment by some academics to gague the hacking community's ability to self-organize and solve a publicly visible ciphertext.

Re: Cicada 3301

Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:42 pm

I'm sorry to rehash an old post - I did a forum search and this was the only reference to Cicada I could find.

I just started watching a mini-doc on this and I, too, immediately though of the TH campaign and tried to see about timelines - it's very possible TH's campaign was inspired/influenced/whatever by Cicada. There are a ton of similarities - right down to the obsessive behaviours of the participants *shakily raises hand* - LOL.

It also fits so snugly in with BoC's mystique! With this current lull between full releases, a few who missed this post from 2013 may find enjoyment now!

Re: Cicada 3301

Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:00 pm

No problem at all. Thanks for checking and not starting a new thread! Fascinating topic too.

Re: Cicada 3301

Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:47 pm

Mexicola wrote:No problem at all. Thanks for checking and not starting a new thread! Fascinating topic too.


Thanks sir :]

I've actually watched two separate ones - the first one was a self contained, 17 minute overview, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2O7blSSzpI

The 2nd is the one I started last night, it's in 4 parts (I made it halfway though part 1, but it's wayyyy more in depth than the first video I watched) and part 1 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2O7blSSzpI

I still haven't finished part 1, but there is no doubt in my mind there are a few here that, if nothing else, would love what's in these mini-docs!

Re: Cicada 3301

Sun Sep 15, 2019 3:36 pm

Cicada 3301 and the TH campaign were both ARGs (Alternate Reality Games), but that doesn’t mean Cicada was the inspiration for the TH lead up. ARGs have been around for a long time and there are a good number active at any given time. One of the first ones I remember was the marketing campaign for Halo 2, “ilovebees.”

There’s actually speculation that Cicada is recruitment for either the NSA or a secret society, so I don’t even know if “Game” is the right term for it. Fascinating though.

Re: Cicada 3301

Sun Sep 15, 2019 4:38 pm

BoC's ARG, if anything, was more closely related to NIN's Year Zero ARG.

Re: Cicada 3301

Mon Sep 16, 2019 6:04 pm

The very first task in the Cicada ARG was taking a photo and finding a link hidden in the metadata - which is practically the same as the Twoism banner, where two audio file links were buried.

Cicada also had posters with QR codes on them in cities around the world - instead of QR codes, BoC used vinyl.

I wasn't saying they copied Cicada, or that others don't share more - but those two things, at the very beginning of the Cicada event, are similar to BoC - and with the timelines being so close to each other, I could see Cicada being the "in" thing at the time of a marketing campaign for TH.

Mostly I brought it up because I'm sure there is enough brain power here that could be interested, that may not have heard about this thing before - was less comparing it to BoC directly and more just using TH as an event to keep this post relative to a BoC discussion, not necessarily as a 1:1 comparison.

Re: Cicada 3301

Thu Sep 19, 2019 9:13 pm

I know this isn't real because anybody looking for "intelligent individuals" would be actively avoiding 4chan.

Re: Cicada 3301

Fri Sep 20, 2019 12:22 am

drillkicker wrote:I know this isn't real because anybody looking for "intelligent individuals" would be actively avoiding 4chan.

Shows what you know. You have clearly never seen the power of weaponized autism.

Re: Cicada 3301

Fri Sep 20, 2019 4:24 am

zeoevil wrote:
drillkicker wrote:I know this isn't real because anybody looking for "intelligent individuals" would be actively avoiding 4chan.

Shows what you know. You have clearly never seen the power of weaponized autism.


Nailed it
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