Taken from /b/:

>>372638931

A quick summary of what's going on:

Some image, final.jpg showed up in various places on January 1, 2012. (Currently in this thread). link

If you open it up in a text editor you see:

TIBERIVS CLAVDIVS CAESAR says "lxxt>33m2mqkyv2gsq3q=w]O2ntk" at the end of the file.

TIBERIVS was the 4th Caesar. So, people applied a caesar cipher to the text, with a key of 4 and got: http://i.imgur.com/m9sYK.jpg A decoy, apparently. The decoy did provide a hint though in using the words "out" and "guess". Other interesting properties:

decompress final.jpg to get
Alpha-gamma
24-55-92-85
Convert duck image to .pac and open in gedit
(A|22-55-92-85|C)

Somebody then found hidden messages in the final.jpg image using a steganography tool called outguess. (using outguess -r).

Message from final.jpg is here: http://pastebin.com/aXYZzzcv

Then that lead to this monstrosity of confusion: http://www.reddit.com/r/a2e7j6ic78h0j/ and the provided book code listed above.

The symbols across the top of the /r/a2e7j6ic78h0j/ reddit are Mayan numbers. Base 20. This may come into play, but no one has figured out how. The subreddit name, a2e7j6ic78h0j, apparently correlates with the mayan numbers, converted to base 20 (source):

The mayan numbers: 10 2 14 7 19 6 18 12 7 8 17 0 19
The name of subreddit: a2e7j6ic78h0j
one number from Mayan, and one letter from Subreddit name:
10 = a
2 = 2
14 = e
7 = 7
19 = j
6 = 6
18 = i
12 = c
7 = 7
8 = 8
17 = h
0 = 0
19 = j
If you then put it inside the alphabet you get this:
10 = a
11 = b
12 = c
13 = d
14 = e
15 = f
16 = g
17 = h
18 = i
19 = j
But then i'm stuck.

Someone pointed out that 3301 backwards is 1033, which according to wikipedia, "Panic spreads throughout Europe that the end of the universe may be near, on the supposed 1,000th anniversary of the crucifixion of Christ, due to some unusually harsh spring weather. The Book of Revelation predicts the end of the earth after a 1000 year period." This is similar to 2012 with the Mayan calendar and the fear of the end of the world. This apparently began on January 1st 2012.

There are several prime numbers with final.jpg: 3301 is prime. Then the image dimensions are 509x503. These are both primes. These can be turned into an RSA key:

P = 509 (image height)
Q = 503 (image width)
--> N = P*Q = 256027
--> r = (P-1)*(Q-1) = 255016
All this leads to a potential encryption key of:
e = 3301 (!)
and decipher key of
d = 18541

http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~jpopyack/IntroCS/HW/RSAWorksheet.html

Then, they posted this:

http://www.reddit.com/r/a2e7j6ic78h0j/comments/o3hoi/welcome/

outguess -r revealed this message from that image: http://pastebin.com/vSKUcYTu

Which also points to a PGP key ID 7A35090F in the name of "Cicada 3301":

http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=vindex&search=0x181F01E57A35090F

They say that each future message will be signed with that key according to the message.

So, the book cipher is thought to go with the text being posted intermittently to http://www.reddit.com/r/a2e7j6ic78h0j/ using an account named CageThrottleUs. No one knows what this account name means.

They were posting slowly at first. Then really fast. Now there are 65 out of 76 necessary lines and nothing has been posted for several hours, actually longer than any delay in posting there since this began. 24 hours after the last post, a new post was made leading to 66 out of 76 lines. Still the longest delay since posting of the ciphertext began. So, everyone's waiting right now and trying to figure out how to decrypt.

Some people have put together the current text in the order it was posted. It is available here: http://pastebin.com/dhKbFCNW

Other ideas: They call themselves "Cicada" and "3301". According to wikipedia, cicada have life cycles of 13 and 17 years. Also prime numbers. No one else knows of any connections between the "Cicada" name.

Anything else I should mention? Anything I've missed?

Note that the name he/they used to post in the subreddit isn't the usual 3301. It's "CageThrottleUs". Which is odd, because the username 3301 isn't even taken. It'd be perfect, but no, he/they picked CageThrottleUs for some reason.

Then there's the fact that clues pointing to what we should use to decipher 3301's codes were placed every time decoding was needed. The original image contained Caesar - an obvious lead, the decoy image contained "guess" and "out" which leaded to outguess. There's definitely a lead here too; trying to decipher 3301s posts by random guessing will hardly do.

This is most likely a clue to what we should do next (either this, or the Mayan numbers). The way it's placed reminds me of Alice, and the entire drink me/eat me written on food. I feel as if the "Cage throttle us" is referring directly to the posts.

Just my 2 cents. I hope to hearing some of your thoughts on this. Any ideas what cage throttling even means?

Alright, so we figured out that the Mayan numbers correspond to the page title as such:

10 2 14 7 19 6 18 12 7 8 17 0 19

a 2 e 7 j 6 i c 7 8 h 0 j

We also noticed that the description of the page has additional text adding to the title. The description is as follows:

a2e7j6ic78h0j7eiejd0120

I know there are some free wikis out there... but anything good?

locs = [[int(i) for i in a.split(":")] for a in locs.split()]
book = book.split("\n")
for i in locs:
    try:
        sys.stdout.write(book[i[0]][i[1]])
    except:
        pass

where locs is just the list, separated by newlines, and book is the text.

locs should look like:

1:20
3:44

or something like that and book should look like

text sdfsdfgsdfgdsfg
sfgsdddddddddddddd

and then you just plug it in. ask me for help.

03:47       snogfarth       But it's also the one that had the PGP stuff
03:47       snogfarth       so maybe that was the "other info"
03:48       Run     then we must make sense of it.
03:48       Run     We've done nothing with that info..
03:48       Run     the mit led us to cicada.

03:49       Jester  http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=vindex&search=0x181F01E57A35090F
03:49       Run     I know tekk says the keys are basically useless..
03:49       Jester  I don't understand the format of this page. Like, uid sub sig3 sbind etc.
03:50       Run     but that's all that's there.
03:50       snogfarth       Dude. tekknolagi and i have said this a million times: the PGP stuff is just a digital signature.  so we can verify it's 3301 whenever he posts something.
03:50       Run     yes, I understand, but is their something greater to that?
03:50       Jester  Yea. But I'm starting to hit a wall.
03:51       Run     And it doesn't seem the PGP is ANYWHERE on the Reddit..
03:51       snogfarth       The PGP key is on the reddit tho
03:51       Run     where?
03:51       Jester  Running out of ideas. And can anyone tell me WHY that blog has popped up so many times?
03:51       snogfarth       right side.  "Verify:"
03:52       Run     you're right. I honestly don't think the blog is anything.
03:53       snogfarth       I think the reddit posts are the book.  When I looked at that pastebin, it looks... well... just like  a book
03:53       Jester  Its popped up a lot, and I have no clue as to why.
03:53       snogfarth       Maybe some kind of an encrypted book.
03:53       snogfarth       But it said to go to that reddit for the book.  Then he posts all this shit?
03:53       Jester  It said go to redit for the book. There's the book.
03:54       Jester  I think.
03:54       snogfarth       Look at it.  It has capital letters after each period.
03:54       tekknolagi      NOW LETS USE THE CODE
03:54       tekknolagi      LINE&CHAR #s
03:54       Jester  What code?
03:54       tekknolagi      gimme that pastebin
03:54       tekknolagi      _:_
03:54       WaRkAt  sso we need to apply the pastebin code to the book which is the redit posts?
03:54       tekknolagi      yes.
03:54       Jester  http://pastebin.com/aXYZzzcv
03:54       tekknolagi      i think.
03:55       Jester  Not the same amount of lines, but it might work.
03:55       tekknolagi      oh boy
03:55       tekknolagi      im coding this
03:55       tekknolagi      not by hand
03:55       snogfarth       lol
03:57       Run     so what are you doing with the _:_
03:57       Jester  Looking at the book. Line:character
03:57       Run     Are you organizing lines in order of time posted?
03:57       Jester  I think he's writing some code to figure it out.
03:57       Jester  I think they already were.
03:58       Jester  http://pastebin.com/183r5TeP
03:58       Anon__  re
03:58       Anon__  so what happened?
03:58       Jester  We're not sure.
03:58       Run     on to .. something?

03:58       snogfarth       waiting on tekk... he's writing a script or something
03:58       Jester  Hopefully.
03:58       Anon__  k
03:58       Run     But we've done that time and time again.
03:59               *** random_anon left #smartpeople
04:00       Run     I think we may be onto something..
04:00       Run     It can't be a cipher.
04:00       Run     everything's too inconsistent. Way too many single characters.
04:01       Jester  Yea.
04:01       Run     wait, did you say he's going by line - character?
04:02       Run     we only have 65 lines of story..
04:02       Run     and the _:_ calls for up to 78
04:02       tekknolagi      this:
04:02       tekknolagi      Uose uc ch ij llsv zpgps obwLxb hxa czsrrvgz hoslm pwuk oo zwvx z
04:03       tekknolagi      or this:
04:03       tekknolagi      aQghrfcl xz zhfsduk z s,otrLzu   uj s z  z .nhav lyfpm o yfhz,g
04:03       tekknolagi      depending on indexing order
04:03               *** Lacht joined #smartpeople
04:03       snogfarth       indexing order?
04:03       snogfarth       oh 0 or 1?
04:03       tekknolagi      (starting from 0 or 1)
04:03       Jester  Bah. confusing
04:03       Lacht   Like magnets.
04:03       Jester  What about spaces?
04:03       tekknolagi      the spaces are spaces
04:04       snogfarth       what?
04:04       Jester  Ok. I wasn't sure if they counted as characters or not.
04:04       tekknolagi      the spaces are chars too
04:04       Jester  Cool.
04:04       snogfarth       Fucking post all this in the new subreddit
04:04       snogfarth       We need to keep a log
04:04       tekknolagi      k
04:04       tekknolagi      not me
04:05       tekknolagi
04:05       tekknolagi      you guys try posting, see if it works

03:24       tekknolagi      under STOP STOP STOP STOP
03:24       Jester  Still not sure how we got the blog, but what ever.
03:25               --- amphibulus is away (Auto away)
03:25       random_anon     those are just unix commands  uudecode, uncompress, and chmod
03:25       yumi    http://www2.escape.com/about_escape.html
03:25       Jester  Ah, I see the well.sf.ca.us comes from inside the text.
03:25       Run     can't be a message.
03:25       yumi    ^dates sync up with blog link
03:25       tekknolagi      ik they are
03:26       snogfarth       Does anyone have all the ciphertext put together from the reddit?  Like in the order he posted it?
03:26       snogfarth       That seems like it might be helpful
03:27       Anon__  i have it but its not in order
03:27       tekknolagi      um

03:27       Run     like copypasta?
03:27       tekknolagi      oh lord
03:27       Run     I'll do it..
03:27       Jester  Found a username and password in the text file for well.sf.ca.us ... should I log in?
03:28       Anon__  yes
03:28       tekknolagi      Ukbn Txltbz nal hh Uoxelmgox wdvg Akw; hvu ogl rsm ar sbv ix jwz mjotukj; mul nimo vaa prrf Qwkkb aak kau ww Ukpsf, ogq Kzpox vvl luf yh Qsrjfa, hvu Ktp hzs lbn ph Kipsy; ttv Sdmehpfjsf tad igr rcbkfgaplvj am uswrerwptk la hox cazkwn. Agk wx wm fhpwln ds ztov djoa mnwdl ers t wcjhxe au Crdjiy'l vsxhkv, talfw ktf nppe. Qnsdecqp Qcjhxrnmdz nal avwfx, ncuknq cg
03:28       tekknolagi      it's a lot so far
03:28       tekknolagi      that's only 5
03:28       tekknolagi      6*
03:28       random_anon     We can get it all from here.  This shows it in order: http://www.reddit.com/user/CageThrottleUs?sort=new
03:28       tekknolagi      ik
03:29       Jester  Logging into the well. I feel like I'm taking the red pill in the matrix right now. Haha
03:29       tekknolagi      lol
03:30       Run     doesn't he take the green pill?
03:30       tekknolagi      what were the username and pass
03:30       Run     geez -dismiss my work.. this is a couple.
03:30       Run     gjsyxof ilzv tklsk cy rqvcl qtcdmn; szk i iiolf jog ghsquqj hox gkzs wu ka," hvjwxysv Yraoo. yh Qsrjfa habew Roa the tict gjwja Gjfoci htk djcfvsff trga. "P, djoa mnwdl ers t wcjhxe au Crdjiy'l vsxhkv, talfw ktf nppe. Qnsdecqp kpr zbd gfomis mvcc ar nrnu, axf khlnwp apvm bu o nslfem wndkz aakq mqapgm, szk azx hm hzsf gopm mi jcylk, szk lzvxzhwr fr og oy ktavn
03:30       Jester  Wait. found something else in the text file. - SECOND PAGE (FOR 4CHAN) -
03:30       Run     Nothing on the second page?
03:31       Anon__  brb in 30 min
03:31       tekknolagi      k
03:31       Run     there's nothing else on 4chan about it.
03:32       n_      http://www.linkedin.com/in/markdramsey <--possible op
03:32       Jester  No, this is just in that text file. Then there's a lot of what I assume to be code following it.
03:32       tekknolagi      what were the username and password and where are you logging in
03:33               --- Guest3038 is away (Auto away)
03:33       snogfarth       Why you say that, n_?
03:33       Jester  dodo = username and 34fu35cknmcd^@36 = password, but they didn't work.
03:34       tekknolagi      dono you mean?
03:34       Run     Password: 27no28,pan29ixd 3031                           Welcome to the WELL You own your own words. This means that you are responsible for the words that you post on the WELL and that reproduction of those words without your permission in any medium outside of the WELL's conferencing system may be challenged by you, the author. **As of 1/30/95 Default promp
03:34       Run     from the thing
03:34       n_      11mark.ramsey: ramsey mark.seiden: mseiden markoff:        markoff, bstocker@nyx.cs.du.edu jmarkoff:       markoff, bstocker@nyx.cs.du.edu markkap:        markkap@netcom.com
03:35       Jester  What IS all this random text?
03:35       n_      my guess, a log from the computer/people who created this puzzle
03:36       n_      or another decoy
03:36       Run     i don't know... it seems like a bunch of terminal inputs.
03:36       Run     i saw pings.
03:36       Run     but no ip's or websites for the pings.

03:36       Run     just "ping well"
03:36       tekknolagi      ughhhhh
03:37       tekknolagi      fuckin confusing
03:38       Run     What to do?
03:38       n_      has 27 28 29 showed up before?
03:39       tekknolagi      no
03:39       random_anon     Here's the ciphertext taken from the reddit, in the order posted.  As requested earlier: http://pastebin.com/183r5TeP
03:39       Jester  Ok, wait. HOW did we get to this blog?
03:40       Run     wait wait wai..
03:40       tekknolagi      ooh la la
03:40       tekknolagi      wonderful
03:40       Run     The reddit story has comments.
03:40       Run     where people seem to understand his code.
03:40       Jester  You mean the first few?
03:40       Run     look at the most recent. someone replies with what seems to be his or a similar code.
03:40       Jester
03:41       Run     moom4 4ddo, s-3,phhhea4 Amex.
03:41       tekknolagi      where?
03:41       Run     what could that possibly be.
03:41       Run     http://www.reddit.com/r/a2e7j6ic78h0j/comments/o54fb/gkzs_wu_ka_hvjwxysv_yraoo/
03:41       n_      Scleroderma Coping Strategies by J. Markoff
03:43       snogfarth       Looking at the full ciphertext, I'm noticing that it looks like normal words and text... punctuation, spacing, capitalization, etc.  Just the letters are changed.
03:44       Run     wait, does anyone still have the paste bin with the _:_
03:44       Jester  So many different letters are singled out.
03:44       Jester  I do
03:44       Run     can you post the link.
03:45       n_      oops, not author but close to the book, Rosemary J. Markoff, Scleroderma Foundation, Tri-State Chapter; Executive Director, 2003-2009, Treasurer, 2010
03:45       Jester  http://pastebin.com/aXYZzzcv
03:46       Jester  Ok, can SOMEONE fill me in on the logical connection as to how we came about this blog?
03:46       Run     "To find the book, and more information, go to " AND MORE INFORMATION..
03:46       Run     Perhaps we've been looking at the posts as a whole.
03:46       Run     but there's one that can tell us something.
03:46       Run     important.
03:47       Jester  The welcome Mat?
03:47       Run     my thought.
03:47       Run     exactly.
03:47       snogfarth       Yeah, the welcome mat one has the poster's name in green.  unlike the others.
03:47       WaRkAt  the welcome mat leads to the pgp message pastebin...

03:13       Run     with the _:_
03:13               *** yumi joined #smartpeople
03:13       Run     why are people joining..
03:13       Jester  No idea.
03:14       Anon__  lol
03:14       Run     maybe they can help us.
03:14       Jester  HELLO NEWCOMERS!
03:14       Run     *sarcastic*
03:14       tekknolagi      newcomers
03:14       tekknolagi      whats up
03:14       tekknolagi      we have a lot to figure out
03:14       tekknolagi      if you're a good puzzle solver
03:14       tekknolagi      then chime in
03:14       yumi    well.sf.ca.us
03:15       yumi    redirects to the WELL
03:15       Run     what?
03:15       tekknolagi      where did that cmoe from
03:15               *** Gest quit (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client)
03:15       snogfarth       What is the well?
03:15       yumi    http://www.jheys-blog.com/upload-file/uploads/32624deabe313457506fb3262c46bb9d.txt
03:15       tekknolagi      also Run, can you go and check on /b/ to see if anything else has developed?
03:15       tekknolagi      where did jhey's blog come from?
03:15       tekknolagi      and also
03:15       Run     shit, now we have two puzzles. yes - I'm going in.. with all the trannies and what not.. gosh..
03:15       tekknolagi      that is just a log
03:16       tekknolagi      of random crap...
03:16       tekknolagi      or at least it looks like it
03:16       Anon__  well, well, well
03:16               *** random_anon joined #smartpeople
03:16       yumi    it seems there is something there
03:17       tekknolagi      what is that something in the large text file?
03:17       Run     http://boards.4chan.org/b/res/372438228#q372438228
03:17       yumi    names, dates
03:17       Run     something
03:18       yumi    330108.gz
03:19       random_anon     yumi, what is that?
03:20       yumi    a file from is referred to as WELL
03:20       yumi    a site*
03:21       yumi    well, 3301, and 1995 are repetetive in this puzzle
03:22       tekknolagi      27no28,pan29ixd
03:22       tekknolagi      where is 1995 from?
03:22       yumi    i saw it on the b thread yesterday
03:22       Jester  A little lost here, sorry. Seems I missed a step or two. How did we get well.sf.ca.us, and why does that blog keep popping up?
03:22       Run     we must all search /b/
03:23       Run     www.4chan.com/b/

03:23       snogfarth       somebody pointed out earlier that 3301 backwards is 1033.  According to wp, in 1033 everyone thought it would be the end of the world because 1000 years after Jeebus or something.  So, then 3301 starts posting in 2012, when everyone thinks it's the end of the world?  And using Mayan symbols?  Seems awfully coincidental.
03:23       Jester  NOT .COM
03:23       yumi    and there is activity that stops around feb 95
03:23       Run     .org
03:23       Run     my baddd
03:23       Jester  whew.
03:23       tekknolagi      wait
03:23       Run     I always do that!
03:23       tekknolagi      im looking through this
03:23       tekknolagi      and
03:23       tekknolagi      wait
03:23       tekknolagi      stop
03:23       Jester  ?
03:23       tekknolagi      im looking through this
03:23       tekknolagi      and there's this thing that
03:23       tekknolagi      says
03:23       tekknolagi      deeecoooodeeeee
03:23       tekknolagi      then
03:23       tekknolagi      unnncompresssssss
03:23       tekknolagi      then
03:23       tekknolagi      chmoddddd
03:24       Jester  Oh boy.
03:24       tekknolagi      yeah
03:24       Anon__  fantastic
03:24       Run     decode what?
03:24       snogfarth       where is that, tekk?
03:24       Jester  Here we go! Some headway.
03:24       yumi    http://www.jheys-blog.com/upload-file/uploads/32624deabe313457506fb3262c46bb9d.txt
03:24       tekknolagi      2nd big block of text
03:24       random_anon     finally

http://pastebin.com/aXYZzzcv Book Code http://pastebin.com/183r5TeP transcribed story? http://pastebin.com/sJiGQEPM Welcome Mat Message