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"Crunching Internet Security," by Ivars Peterson. Science News, 2 October 1999, page 221.
Can internet security codes be broken? One widely used scheme for encrypting information transmitted over the internet is based upon the principle that very large numbers are difficult to factor. The scheme, called RSA, requires knowing the factors of a 155 digit number in order to unscramble the information. Factoring such a large number is so time consuming it is considered impossible in the practical world, and the information is considered safe from hackers. This article explains that mathematicians in Amsterdam recently succeed in factoring such a number, however. Although it took 5 months on 300 PCs and one supercomputer, there is concern that with the growing speed of computers it may become even more feasible in the future, and encryption schemes will have to begin using even larger numbers.
--- Elizabeth Moisan
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