[X4U] Re: X4U Digest, Vol 15, Issue 23

[Eugene]

On Mon, Nov 21, 2005 at 07:01:59PM CST, Richard Gilmore <rgilmor at uwo.ca> wrote:
: 
: On 20/11/05 10:28 AM, "David Ledger" <dledger at ivdcs.demon.co.uk> wrote:
: 
: > With public/private there are two keys.......The potential weakness
: > of public/private keys is that if anyone ever discoverers a way to
: > generate the private key from the public one, it will be dead.
: 
: Is this likely?

It's possible via brute-force attacks.  However, it may take
you several centuries or millennia before you get anywhere.
People in the field call this "mathematically intractable".

: I wonder if we have something like a quantum computer if they will ever
: become powerful enough to crack ciphers with brute force?

Then we move onto the next step: quantum cryptography.


-- 
Eugene
http://www.coxar.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/