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Today this post is going around on the internet and there someone wrote that it could perhaps mean that elliptic curve crypto will be weakened.

Here's the link: https://plus.google.com/+DavidRoberts/posts/KcjNn99tYaa

Can someone perhaps clarify this?

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    $\begingroup$ I am voting to move this question to crypto stackexchange. It is more likely to have a better answer $\endgroup$
    – Limit
    Jan 26, 2017 at 18:40
  • $\begingroup$ or maybe to math stackexchange $\endgroup$
    – 111
    Jan 27, 2017 at 1:56

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From: https://plus.google.com/+DavidRoberts/posts/KcjNn99tYaa

David Hansen

The result announced by Taylor has absolutely nothing to do with elliptic curve cryptography, and no effect thereon.

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+1 to @pepite for reading to the bottom of the thread where any relation to cryptography was dispelled.

Even if a new basic result like this was discovered that slightly weakens ECC, it would take some time to figure out how to use it in an attack. Such an attack would likely not "break" ECC, just weaken it slightly.

I'll bet you random internet points that quantum computers will completely and thoroughly destroy ECC first!

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  • $\begingroup$ Is there a specific reason why you believe turning a new basic insight into an attack will take some time? $\endgroup$
    – Elias
    Jan 27, 2017 at 9:08
  • $\begingroup$ @Elias No, nothing concrete, but I'm reminded of a talk Dan Bernstein gave about "exploring Attack Mountain of combining congruences"; knowing that this is a powerful cryptanalytic technique does not give us an obvious path to the summit, or even a way to tell when we've reached the summit. I suppose other basic insights are more directly applicable, so time-to-attack depends on the insight. $\endgroup$
    – Mike Ounsworth
    Jan 27, 2017 at 14:41

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