RSA Denies Rumors Of Crypto Algorithm Demise

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/stories/news/0,4164,2683146,00.html

By Dennis Fisher, eWEEK
February 7, 2001 12:11 PM ET

Reports of the demise of RSA Security Inc.'s cryptography algorithm
have been greatly exaggerated.

A Filipino math whiz claimed in newspaper reports this week that he
had discovered a faster way of decoding RSA's popular encryption
algorithm.

If proven, the claim will have called into question the validity of
what has become, essentially, the de facto encryption standard in the
computer industry.

RSA, however, has denied the man's claims, saying that the attack he
outlined is one of the weaker ones attempted.

"There's no truth at all to this rumor," said Tim Powers, a spokesman
for RSA, in Bedford, Mass.

The claims made by a math enthusiast named Leo de Velez were first
published on the Manila Bulletin's Web site earlier this week.

The RSA algorithm, developed in the late 1970s by three
mathematicians, is used in hundreds of software products, including
Lotus Development Corp.'s popular Notes program.

The algorithm is licensed by thousands of companies and used to
encrypt and decrypt messages in PKI (public-key infrastructure)
implementations of e-mail systems and Web transactions.

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