Flannery's system [was: New report from the BBC News web site]

Jim Gillogly (jim@acm.org)
Thu, 14 Jan 1999 08:46:15 -0800

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James Petts <jpetts@celltech.co.uk> writes:
>> Sarah Flannery, 16, has developed a brand
>> new mathematical procedure for encrypting internet communication.

> Is that the slithering of well-greased ophidians I hear?

If so, it's not yet obvious. Unlike some inventors, she has at least a
year's experience in the field (see her picture receiving an award from
Intel at age 15 for her "Cryptography - the science of secrecy" project
at http://www.esat.ie/youngscientists/intel.html ). William Whyte at
Baltimore-Zergo has written to several lists saying she was working at
Baltimore last March, they had given her some ideas about multiplying
2x2 matrices modulo a product of primes, and she'd made good progress
with them:

> In fact, Sarah made substantial contributions to the development of the
> algorithm, finding a way of trading off key generation time against
> encryption time and doing a lot of work on the proof of security. It's
> very impressive.

If she really does have a proof that it's as strong as RSA and 30 times
faster, let's listen for it...

-- 
	Jim Gillogly
	23 Afteryule S.R. 1999, 16:36
	12.19.5.15.8, 8 Lamat 1 Muan, Second Lord of Night

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