The Man Who Solved the Mysterious Cicada 3301 Puzzle 12 years ago
Are you saying that only based on the technical details presented in a non-technical article?
You might be interested to actually check out the actual problems, some of which have remained unsolved (at least by the general public) for years now.
http://uncovering-cicada.wikia.com/wiki/Uncovering_Cicada_Wi...