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from the renaming-it-to-be-NSHA:-the-Not-Secure-Hashing-Algorithm dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The Wall Street fintech Treadwell Stanton DuPont broke silence today as it announced its Research & Development and Science Teams successfully broke the SHA-256[*] hashing algorithm silently in controlled laboratory conditions over a year ago. The announcement aims to secure financial and technological platform superiority to its clients and investors worldwide.
[...] While the best public cryptanalysis has tried to break the hashing function since its inception in 2001, work on searching, developing and testing practical collision and pre-image vulnerabilities on the SHA-256 hashing algorithm began back in 2016 in Treadwell Stanton DuPont's R&D facilities, culminating 2 years later with the successful discovery of a structural weakness and the initial development of the first practical solution space of real world value by its researchers.
"While we have successfully broken all 64 rounds of pre-image resistance," said Seiijiro Takamoto, Treadwell Stanton DuPont's director of newly formed Hardware Engineering Division, "it is not our intention to bring down Bitcoin, break SSL/TLS security or crack any financial sector security whatsoever."
[*] See the SHA-2 page on Wikipedia for background on SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512, SHA-512/224, and SHA-512/256.
(Score: 3, Funny) by VLM on Wednesday September 11 2019, @12:46PM (3 children)
The evidence of it being broken seems rather homeopathic.
Something mathematical was created, then pass thru 256 rounds of journalist dilution, and you end up with distilled water containing statistically likely less than one line's worth of actual mathematical proof.
Still, the lack of anything in the diluted product doesn't imply the original source contained ... something.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @01:06PM (2 children)
A lack of proof for something makes it even more likely in my opinion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @07:24PM
Which is why you're absolutely certain that every time you kiss your wife/girlfriend, you get my sperm in your mouth.
Good show!
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday September 12 2019, @11:21AM
Could be a pump and dump scheme, yes. Usually "real results" are not announced this way.
My guess is to avoid massive SEC legal impact, there is a kernel of truth where they DID bust SHA-256 down to the equivalent of SHA-255.99999 AND SIMULTANEOUSLY theres a chance there might be a pump and dump scheme underway.