A team in France recently cracked the most complex encryption algorithm to date, taking 35 million compute hours to break even though the key was only one-third of the length of most commercial encryption keys. The longest encryption was previously 232 digits, and the French scientists beat this record by 8 characters. The cryptography victory was made possible by using dozens of computers working simultaneously around the world to convert 35 million computing hours into a reasonable timeframe.
The encryption method the scientists used to generate a problem is cammed the RSA algorithm in which two parties encrypt information using two prime numbers multiplied together. The French scientists beat their 240 character problem in less time than the team that solved the 232 character problem took, beating them both in time and in complexity.
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