From: an52436@anon.penet.fi (Mephisto)
Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 12:38:56 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Comments on NSA (was: "Pyrrhus Cracks RSA?")
Message-ID: <9311262038.AA27804@anon.penet.fi>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Well, doesn't it make some sense given the utility of prime numbers in
cryptography, that the NSA, or anyone else interested in breaking codes for that
matter, would have simply dedicated a computer or two to the long-term project
of determining all of the prime numbers under x bits long?  Granted this would
take a while, but the NSA has the time, the computers, and the other resources
necessary to do this.  Having all of these prime numbers would greatly reduce
the effort necessary to crack PGP/RSA-type cryptosystems which rely on prime
numbers.  It would reduce the number of factors a brute-force attack would
have to check dramatically.  Or am I completely off-base?


					Mephisto
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