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AlexFromBelgium
on April 21, 2012
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The Largest Known Prime by Year: A Brief History
"Public key crypto algorithms utilize prime numbers extensively; indeed, prime numbers are an essential part of the major public key systems"
http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/vpns/prime-numb...
andrewcooke
on April 21, 2012
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but they cannot use "biggest" primes because, typically, security relies on the prime being unknown.
eru
on April 21, 2012
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Yes. But they employ techniques that were at the forefront of the search for big prime numbers in earlier times.
jordanscales
on April 21, 2012
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Is that how cracking begins? They start with "famously" prime numbers? I've always wondered about this.
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