[Cryptography] Rumor has it that AES-256 is broken (again!)

[Jerry Leichter]

> http://yournewswire.com/encryption-security-may-not-be-secure-anymore/
> 
> Sounds like total BS to me; like someone is being punked. I can't even
> find any evidence of the paper itself existing. Supposedly, the title
> of paper (from
> another link) is:
> 
>    Factoring of Large Integers using Estimation of Weak Intermediate
> Key Points along a Quadratic Curve
That could conceivably allow an attack on RSA, but AES?  A connection between factoring and AES would in and of itself be an huge (and totally unexpected, and vanishingly unlikely) deal.

> 
> I have some nervous friends, so if someone could officially debunk,
> I'd be most appreciative.
What's in the linked report makes no sense.

It's not out of the question that someone has come up with a new approach to factoring, but if so we're talking major award material.  Not impossible, but highly unlikely.  Certainly not anything to worry about without more information - and absolutely unrelated to AES.

                                                        -- Jerry