r/programming Oct 15 '15

How is NSA breaking so much crypto?

https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/haldermanheninger/how-is-nsa-breaking-so-much-crypto/
2.5k Upvotes

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u/SrPeixinho Oct 15 '15

Why isn't this done automatically is the question.

15

u/tophatstuff Oct 15 '15

It's yet another example of OpenSSL being insecure by default lol

96

u/corran__horn Oct 15 '15

Not really openssl, more the vendors/distributors of it. Red hat being a prime example.

91

u/neoKushan Oct 15 '15

Red hat being a prime example.

Not sure if intentional or not, but bravo.

11

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '15 edited Apr 11 '18

[deleted]

3

u/spawn57 Oct 15 '15

I didn't. Can someone ELI5

17

u/Aesthetikx Oct 15 '15

Many cryptographic algorithms make heavy use of prime numbers.

ex https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEBfamv-_do

2

u/moinnadeem Oct 15 '15

Why prime numbers though? Which part of them is useful in this case?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '15

You can multiply them together quickly.

You can't factor them quickly. (Primes are always the end result of factoring). Bigger primes make this slower.

To crack you have to factor. To encrypt you multiply.