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Fujitsu Cracks Next-Gen Cryptography Standard
judgecorp writes "Fujitsu and partners have cracked a cryptogram which used 278-digit (923 bit) pairing-based cryptography. The technology was proposed as a next-generation standard, but Fujitsu cracked it, at this level in just over 148 days using 21 personal computers."
Reader Thorfinn.au adds a snippet from Fujitsu's announcement of the break: "This was an extremely challenging problem as it required several hundred times computational power compared with the previous world record of 204 digits (676 bits). We were able to overcome this problem by making good use of various new technologies, that is, a technique optimizing parameter setting that uses computer algebra, a two dimensional search algorithm extended from the linear search, and by using our efficient programing techniques to calculate a solution of an equation from a huge number of data, as well as the parallel programming technology that maximizes computer power."
For starters:
- IEEE P1363.3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_P1363#Identity-based_public_key_cryptography_based_on_pairings_.28P1363.3.29
- NIST http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/ST/IBE/index.html
NICT has an arguably better press release of the same partnership - it goes in just a little detail (which is better than almost none from Fujistsu)
http://www.nict.go.jp/en/press/2012/06/18en-1.html
Most of the next gen cryptography is about public keys or hashes. AES is still effective, so the weakest link in the chain is going to be passwords or breakable public keys, which would allow an attacker to acquire the AES key during the hand-shake.
One needs a safe way to transmit the AES key over a public network, like the internet. Public keys are very slow, but semi strong. AES is quite fast and really really really strong. Trying to make asymmetric encryption strong is hard because the public key gives information about the private key.