[3512] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
large number factored
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steve Bellovin)
Sun Oct 18 11:18:38 1998
From: Steve Bellovin <smb@research.att.com>
To: cryptography@c2.net
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 11:07:25 -0400
I should have sent this in earlier, but...
The 3 October issue of Science News reports that some folks at CWI have
factored a 186-digit number -- (2^15-135)^41-1 -- using the special
number field sieve. The effort required 88 computers, and took 42 days.
This particular number is of special form; they're going after a general
512-bit number next...
