1024-bit RSA cipher hacked in five years

Within five to ten years, the 1024-bit RSA cipher will be cracked. With such a forecast made Arjen Lenstra (Arjen Lenstra), a well-known cryptologist. More recently, the equivalent of a 700-bit RSA key has been cracked under his leadership. Arjen Lenstra believes that in the field of distributed computing in the coming years we can expect significant progress. First, the processors become more powerful. Secondly, mathematical algorithms for finding primes are improving.

Arjen Lenstra told about a successful experiment in which two factors of a 307-digit number were found. True, this particular number (2 ¹⁰³⁹ - 1) was specially carefully selected so that it was easier to factor with the help of the special number field sieve method invented by Lenstroy. At the same time, the process took 11 months in a network of 300–400 computers. In particular, six months were spent on sowing: the total sowing time was equivalent to one hundred years of Athlon64 / Opteron operation [2.2GHz]. The solution of the obtained matrix took 59 days on 110 Pentium D processors [3.0GHz].

The Swiss professor is confident that the factorization methods will be improved and the breaking of the 1024-bit cipher will be possible in five to ten years. Businessmen and ordinary citizens should now think about using more robust cryptography.
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via IDG News , Number Theory List