They must mean RSA512, of course. Given various people's pings to me about the death of 128-bit RC4, :-), someone should tell the New York Times, and others, about the difference between symmetric and asymmetric ciphers... Cheers, RAH At 9:12 AM -0700 on 10/12/00, NewsScan wrote: > SWEDISH TEAM CRACKS TOUGH COMPUTER CODES > A team of Swedish computer enthusiasts has succeeded in deciphering 10 > increasingly difficult codes presented by author Simon Singh in his > bestseller, "The Code Book." Singh, who has a doctorate in physics at > Cambridge University in the U.K., took two years to develop the brain > teasers with Dr. Paul Leyland, who works for Microsoft in Cambridge. The > codes, which took the Swedes the equivalent of 70 years of computer time to > decrypt, ranged from ciphers dating back to ancient Greece through the > famed Nazi Enigma code machine used in World War II. The team was awarded a > check for $15,000 for their efforts. Team leader Fredrik Almgren said the > task was extremely daunting and that he and his fellow scientists were > tempted to abandon the effort several times: "The first stages were very > simple but at one point we thought we wouldn't get any further than stage > eight. When you do come to the 10th stage it is a question of heavy > mathematics and rather difficult algorithms that I don't even claim to > understand myself." (Reuters/New York Times 12 Oct 2000) > http://partners.nytimes.com/2000/10/12/technology/12R-CODE2.html -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
