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It's easy to find primes of a given bit length, and it's easy to multiply them together. It's hard to un-multiply a given number (public key) into its unique pr
by PeeMcGee 2y ago
It's easy to find primes of a given bit length, and it's easy to multiply them together. It's hard to un-multiply a given number (public key) into its unique prime factors (private key).
- mbreese 2y agoBut if we could more easily find primes, the search space for finding those prime factors would be significantly smaller. In my mind, it’s not a question of easy vs hard… it’s a question of fast vs slow. The default algorithm for finding primes is pretty simple, but it takes a lot of math and time. If you reduce the time requirements, then we start to get into trouble.