Uncovering Cicada Wiki
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Cicada 3301 2016 Message

Cicada's Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/1231507051321

Cicada twitter posted https://twitter.com/1231507051321/status/684596461628223488 which leads to

4gq25
4gq25 (processed)

Important note: What was believed to be a "dendrite" is actually an oak tree, as revealed by a Google search for "dead oak tree clipart". (http://www.clipartbest.com/cliparts/abc/y97/abcy97qTL.jpeg)

  • Please note, the blocks in the background are noise from the image compression, not a QR code.
  • The image size is 563 x 569 (both primes).

The following test is produced by running Outguess:

PGP-Signed Message
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hello.

The path lies empty; epiphany seeks the devoted.

Liber Primus is the way.  Its words are the map, their
meaning is the road, and their numbers are the direction.

Seek and you will be found.


Good luck.

3301


Beware false paths.  Verify OpenPGP 7A35090F.


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1
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=sKXT
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----


Likely only clue in message = 'numbers are the direction.' but this is still possible just 3301 way of speaking and not a clue.

If you verify the PGP key using GPG you get:

gpg: Signature made Thu 31 Dec 2015 07:01:07 PM EST using RSA key ID 7A35090F

gpg: Good signature from "Cicada 3301 (845145127)"

gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!

gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.

Primary key fingerprint: 6D85 4CD7 9333 22A6 01C3  286D 181F 01E5 7A35 090F

GP Sum Analysis

A discord user did an analysis on the 2016 message contents and found that if you shift the F at the end of the message to the beginning, you get some interesting Fibonacci prime values. The character F has been used as an interrupter by Cicada 3301 previously, making its shift to the beginning less arbitrary.

Analysis
Fibonacci Prime Index Prime Message GP Sums
0 464 3301
1 463 3299
1 462 3271
2 460 3257
3 457 3229
5 452 3191
8 444 3119
13 431 3001 2016, Sentences 1-3, +F
21 410 2819 2016, Sentence 4
34 376 2579 2016, Remainder, -F
55 321 2131 2017 message
89 232 1459
144 88 457

Italicized numbers are GP sums of the 2016 and 2017 messages

More of his analysis can be found here, with the raw data here. Due do mediawiki constraints, I have to link to them but I strongly recommend you view them yourself because it also includes analysis of the 2017 message. This analysis furthers the commonly held belief that encryption methods are applied to whole sections and not just individual pages. It also suggests that sections are treated not as a linear string, but as a ring/loop(see linked document for more details). When the 2016 and 2017 messages are broken down into sections and analyzed based on rune count, GP sum, and prime index there are interesting patterns when compared to the Fibonacci sequence.

Message Sentences Rune count GP sum Prime index
2016 1 - 3 59 2999 430
2016 4 59 2819 410
2016 Remainder 59 2581 -
2017 1 - 2 45 2131 321

Italicized numbers are GP sums of messages, italicized and bold are just prime numbers

The message can be cleanly broken up into three sections of 59 runes, with sentence 4 and the remainder also being 59 runes if you include the A and F of the PGP key. There is also a layering of primes in the 4th sentence.

Prime Layering
Sentence Section Prime Value Rune count
Its words are the map, their meaning is the road, and their numbers are the direction 2819 59
their meaning is the road, and their numbers are the direction 2039 43
and their numbers are the direction 1277 27

59 is the 17th prime number. Some people refer to the page that hashes to [...] as the 59th "missing" page, which may be significant as some believe it to be referenced in this message. Or not, but this is one of the few analysis that have granted any useful insight into these messages.

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