(How's *that* for a catchy subject line.)
Assume a 1024-bit RSA keypair. Any data encrypted with the public key can only be decrypted with the private key, and vice versa. The only real difference between the public and private key is it's far more expensive to encrypt/decrypt with the private key than with the public - on the order 20x. So far as I know, other than the difference in CPU cost, they are interchangeable. So if you agree with the above statements (and if you don't, please let me know where I'm off), here's my question: How much easier is it for a hacker with the private key to guess the public than vice versa? Clearly, given the cost difference of the keys, it should be at least 20x more difficult to guess the private key given the public than vice versa using a brute force attack. But I'm wondering if there are additional attacks that can be waged on the private key that go beyond brute force? Is there some trick that a hacker could use to more easily generate the corresponding public key given the private? Thanks! -david
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