Alan Ritchson’s directorial debut, Dark Web: Cicada 3301, draws inspiration from the true story of the eponymous organization embroiled in posting puzzles for recruiting the finest codebreakers. Starring Jack Kesy, Conor Leslie, Ron Funches, and Ritchson himself, Dark Web: Cicada 3301 revolves around genius hacker Connor, who finds himself being tailed by the NSA after participating in the online treasure hunt spurred by the mysterious Cicada 3301. The film is set to be released digitally on March 12, 2021.
The mysteries behind Cicada 3301 were first unraveled to the world on January 5th, 2012, in the form of an elusive image on 4chan’s /x/ board. The image simply stated that a message was hidden within it, and those who solved it would be led to a then-unspecified “us.” Signed as ‘3301’, the message sparked considerable interest, although it was initially considered as yet another ARG, while others deemed it a recruitment program by NASA. Soon enough, code solvers discovered it to be a Caesar cipher, which pointed towards an URL, and yet another image. A long string of clues was woven in a similar fashion, which ultimately led to a telephone number with yet another cryptic message. It is important to note that the organization in question posted sets of puzzles on three occasions, spanning the years 2012-2014.
The apparent purpose of these puzzles was to recruit “highly intelligent individuals”, although the ultimate purpose behind Cicada 3301 remains unknown. While some claim that Cicada 3301 is a secret society-of-sorts with the aim to improve the fields of cryptography, privacy, and anonymity, others believe that it is a religio-scientific cult with covert motives. The first puzzle has been solved by computer coder Marcus Wanner, who opines that those who were successful in solving the puzzles were inquired about their views on information freedom, online privacy, and the rejection of censorship, and those who offered satisfactory answers moved on to the next stage. The range of clues imbued within the Cicada mystery spanned various multimedia outlets, including the internet, telephone, bootable Linux CDs, and pages of unpublished cryptic texts such as the Liber Primus.
In addition to the abilities of encryption, decryption, and coding, the puzzles demanded a comprehensive knowledge of a wide variety of literature, poetry, artwork, and music. As the mystery behind the true nature of the organization intensified, birthing varied speculations rooted in different perspectives, authorities from the Los Andes Province of Chile claimed that the organization was a hacker group engaged in illegal activities. Since then, Cicada 3301 responded with a PGP-signed statement denying these claims, although a copycat group named ‘3301’ hacked into Planned Parenthood’s database in July 2015. Owing to the wholly mysterious nature of the organization, many are of the opinion that the puzzles are an introduction to occult principles, rooted in Theosophy and Thelema. These interpretations are most likely prompted by the nature of the clues, along with the encrypted messages with references to “enlightenment” and “for everything that lives is holy.”
As per latest public knowledge, no new puzzles were published after 2014, although a clue was posted on Twitter on January 5, 2016. However, in April 2017, a verified PGP-signed message explicitly denied the validity of any unsigned puzzle, and following this declaration, no known verified puzzles have been found since then. While it is difficult to gauge the true intent behind Cicada 3301, it can undoubtedly be deemed as a startlingly elaborate internet puzzle that still eludes the most gifted coders and cryptographers. Keeping this elusive context in mind, it will be interesting to witness how Dark Web: Cicada 3301 chooses to approach this phenomenon, and whether this baffling internet mystery will translate well into a compelling piece of cinema.