Can NSA and PKP Suppress Breakthroughs?

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

Arsen Ray A. writes:

> To quote you:
> <<Not to attack Doug's point, which has validity here (that we don't
> know what factoring advances NSA may have made), but I personally
> think the combined capabilities of "public domain mathematicians" are
> now far greater than what NSA has. Shamir, Odzylko, Blum, Micali,
> Rackoff, Goldwasser, Solovay, Berlenkamp, etc., are top-flight
> researchers, publishing many papers a year on these topics. It is
> unlikely that some GS-14 mathematicians at the Fort, not able to
> publish openly, have made much more progress. I think the resurgence
> of crypto in the 70s, triggered by public key methods and fueled by
> complexity theory breakthrough, caused a "sea change" in inside
> NSA-outside NSA algorithm expertise.
> 
> You mention Shamir, etc.  However I would point out that even if any of the
> original RSA mathematicians found a better factoring algorithm, they'd be more
> than likely to keep it under lock and key.  The obvious reason is that their
> money supply depends on such an algorithm being suppressed.
> 
> Now, someone outside of their circle with a little less to worry about the
> impact of such a factoring algirthm would be likely to publish it, but I 
> doubt that PKP's founders would.

Several points:

1. Adi Shamir sold out what little share he had some years back. He has
no financial links to PKP or RSADSI.

2. Shamir is Israeli. (This has led to more than one humorous
situation in which Shamir has received notification from the U.S.
government that he cannot "export" something he's working on--as an
Israeli, living in Israel.)

3. Shamir was the coinventor (with Biham), or at least the recent
rediscoverer, of differential cryptanalysis. He apparently felt no
constraint to not publish.

4. Some of the others I listed, such as Odzylko, are in fact the known
leaders of making improvements in factoring. (Not that various linear
factors matter much, in the long run, of course.)

It's only speculation as to the relative competence of mathematicians
inside vs. outside the NSA; my main point remains that the outside
community is very dynamic and robust and shows no signs that I can see
of holding back on reporting breakthroughs.

Nor could a major breakthrough be contained, I think.

--Tim May

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