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Factors Found in 200-Digit RSA Challenge
diodesign writes "The two unique prime factors of a 200-digit number have been discovered by researchers at Bonn University (Germany) and the CWI (Netherlands). The number is the largest integer yet factored with a general purpose algorithm and was one of a series of such numbers issued as a challenge by security company RSA security in March 1991 in order to track the real-world difficulty of factoring such numbers, used in the public-key encryption algorithm RSA. RSA-200 beats the previous record number 11281+1 (176 digits, factored on May 2nd, 2005), and RSA-576 (174 digits, factored on December 3rd, 2003)."
Now the longest /. UID in history can be created!
Seriously though... any idea when our databases will enable INTs this high with indexing and normalization? I'd like to see a kind of infinite rid length at some point, and while database character types like varchar in mysql goes to 255, maybe it's really enough? (ducks from incoming Bill Gates quotes)
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Not really anything to do with this specifically, but this story does have something to do with primes so I will bring it up. I wrote something about prime numbers which might interest a few Slashdot readers.
Prime Numbers
- Jax
Factoring numbers looks harder than it is. At first glance, it looks like adding digits makes the factoring problem exponentially harder. The question is: what is the base of the exponent. A naive analysis suggests that adding one binary digit makes the number twice as big and thus makes the factoring problem twice as hard. Such analyses are where get estimates that proclaim it will take a computer the life of the universe to factor an X-digit number.
If adding one bit to the number, makes the problem twice as hard, then the base of the exponent for the executive time is 2. But what if the base is not 2, but is only 1.01? Then, adding 200 bits to the number only makes the problem 7 times harder (1.01 ^ 200). The scary part is that we can't prove that factoring has a lower limit to the base of the exponent. It could be 1.1, 1.01, or 1.001, or 1.0001. This means that any crypto based on prime factors has an unknown vulnerability in it.
For now, prime factoring is hard, tomorrow, it might not be.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Actually, if somebody succeeds in finding a way to factor large numbers efficiently, it could cause a lot of disruption. For example, much practical online security relies on the difficulty of factoring, and if that suddenly becomes broken the disruptions could be severe (at least temporarily).
If it continues to take years to factor numbers, we're still safe. If it gets down to hours, watch out!
Have you read my blog lately?
I have found a way to crack any code in a matter of minutes. It's simple!!! It works plenty of times!!
:)
Find out where the subject lives that encrypted the data. (1-3 days)
Break into their home. (10 minutes)
Look under their keyboard (1 minute)
Read their private and public key off the notecard taped under the keyboard. (2 minutes.)
Optionally: Steal the notecard and leave a fake one with the wrong key written down.
Laugh maniacally... Done!!!
To date when doing security sweeps at my various clients sites, 80% of staff have their password somewhere in their cube. 50% had their PGP keys under the keyboard, 10% had pen drives marked "Passwords" handing off a thumb tack on their cube wall. Who cares about better encyption, physical security (or perhaps mental security is a better choice) is where we need to focus.
And remember network admins! Have you users spade or neutered
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-