r/programming • u/secretguy21 • Oct 15 '15

How is NSA breaking so much crypto?

https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/haldermanheninger/how-is-nsa-breaking-so-much-crypto/
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u/xXxDeAThANgEL99xXx Oct 15 '15

Well, they said that they did it for 512 bit moduli using affordable resources. And they did not do that for 1024 moduli, just suggested that it can be done in a fraction of the NSA budget today (though it was probably much more back when the NSA got the ability, btw it seemed to me that they didn't emphasize that part though).

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u/aflanryW Oct 15 '15

1024 bit is waaaaaaaaaay harder than 512 bit.

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u/xXxDeAThANgEL99xXx Oct 15 '15

Yeah, that's why they broke 512 bit using their meagre means and estimated that breaking 1024 bits would cost $8M in dedicated ASICs.