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RSA: Continued Fractions — The Wiener Attack

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In 1990, Michael Wiener defined a crack on RSA which involved a short decryption exponent and which used continued fractions [1]:

For this, we can create a continued fraction for an RSA modulus and use a power of two. In 2013, Bernstein et al factored a number of RSA keys from a database of over two million keys used in the Tawainese Citizen Identity database:

The research team found that many of the prime numbers found had a repetitive pattern [2]:

Two examples of strange looking prime numbers that were found were:

0xc92424922492924992494924492424922492924992494924492424922492924992494924492424922492924992494924492424922492924992494924492424e50xf6dbdb6ddb6d6db66db6b6dbb6dbdb6ddb6d6db66db6b6dbb6dbdb6ddb6d6db66db6b6dbb6dbdb6ddb6d6db66db6b6dbb6dbdb6ddb6d6db66db6b6dbb6d

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Prof Bill Buchanan OBE FRSE
ASecuritySite: When Bob Met Alice

Professor of Cryptography. Serial innovator. Believer in fairness, justice & freedom. Based in Edinburgh. Old World Breaker. New World Creator. Building trust.