Cryptanalysis of RSA

Principal Investigator: Sam Wagstaff

We study the minimum period of the Bell numbers, which arise in combinatorics, modulo a prime. It is shown that this period is probably always equal to its maximum possible value. Interesting new divisibility theorems are proved for possible prime divisors of the maximum possible period. The conclusion is that these numbers are not suitable for use as RSA public keys.

Personnel

  • Peter L. Montgomery
  • Sangil Nahm

Keywords: RSA public keys, divisibility theorems, Bell numbers