Ars Technica has reported that a group of international researchers have reached a new milestone in the annals of cryptography with the factoring of the largest RSA key size ever computed and a matching computation of the largest-ever integer discrete logarithm. New records of this type occur regularly as the performance of computer hardware increases over time. The records announced on Monday evening are more significant because they were achieved considerably faster than hardware improvements alone would predict, thanks to enhancements in software used and the algorithms it implemented.
“We’re all face a ticking clock when it comes encryption keys, it’s only a matter of time until they are broken. When this happens everything, from payment networks to stock markets, will be impacted. We should all expect to see newer and faster methods of breaking cryptography, especially as we enter the age of quantum computing.
Unfortunately, many industries are not agile enough to respond to a cryptographic security event. We’re still seeing businesses struggling to replace SHA-1 certificates as well as old Symantec certificates and these events both had plenty of advance notice. Most organizations still don’t have the ability to quickly find and replace all their keys and certificates.
The only solution is to automate these processes and stakes will continue to increase. This really is an ‘evolve or die’ issue.”