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Xref: sserve sci.math:47630 alt.security:10071 alt.security.pgp:1421 sci.crypt:16763 comp.os.linux.misc:1795 comp.os.386bsd.misc:1075 comp.unix.misc:9155 comp.unix.wizards:30851 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!uunet!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!athena.mit.edu!fahn From: fahn@chirality.rsa.com (Paul Fahn) Newsgroups: sci.math,alt.security,alt.security.pgp,sci.crypt,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.wizards,isu.cc.general,isu.cc.vincent Subject: Re: RSA129 factoring attack -- participants needed Date: 21 Sep 93 15:46:26 Organization: RSA Data Security, Inc. Lines: 14 Message-ID: <FAHN.93Sep21154626@chirality.rsa.com> References: <explorer.748591928@tbird.cc.iastate.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: chirality.rsa.com In-reply-to: explorer@iastate.edu's message of Tue, 21 Sep 1993 06:12:08 GMT In article <explorer.748591928@tbird.cc.iastate.edu> explorer@iastate.edu (Michael Graff) writes: > In 1977, a 129-digit integer appeared in the pages of Scientific American. > This number, the RSA challenge modulus or RSA-129, has not yet been > successfully factored. Factoring it, a 425-bit number, would be a major > milestone in cryptography, as it would show that current technology is able to > break commonly-used RSA-cryptosystem keys within a reasonable time. This is not correct. Commonly-used RSA systems use key sizes significantly larger than 425 bits. Common RSA key sizes range from 512 bits to 1024. Factoring RSA-129 does not in any way jeopardize the security of widely used versions of RSA. Paul