Anthropic A.I. Model Finds Flaws in Tough-to-Crack Encryption Algorithms

As expected, this article is frustratingly devoid of detail.

The flaws identified do not concern a cryptographic standard currently in use today, which means that modern banking and communication systems are not subject to immediate potential intrusions from A.I. Instead, Anthropic’s technology cracked a watered-down version of an algorithm for Advanced Encryption Standard, or A.E.S., a ubiquitous protocol that safeguards web traffic, wireless networks, data storage and more.

So what does that mean, that it was unleashed at AES-ECB?

“Given that we are constantly underestimating the power and time of availability of future models, are we really comfortable that two years from now strong encryption won’t be threatened?” said Glenn S. Gerstell, the former general counsel at the National Security Agency.

“Mathematicians would tell you that it shouldn’t be possible given current computing powers to break strong encryption in any meaningful time,” added Mr. Gerstell, who helped write a report on cryptology in 2022. “But I don’t think the capabilities of future models in the medium term — before quantum computing or quantum-proof cryptography — should be dismissed as trivial in this context.”

What a load of horse hockey.

A leading A.I. model built by Anthropic has found flaws in a weakened version of a digital encryption standard that is in pervasive use throughout the internet

a weakened version? whats the point?

Instead, Anthropic’s technology cracked a watered-down version of an algorithm for Advanced Encryption Standard, or A.E.S., a ubiquitous protocol that safeguards web traffic, wireless networks, data storage and more

it cracked nothing. I could write an encryption algorithm. it would be cracked in minutes. so whats the point

The actual publication instead of this sensationalized drivel:

https://www.anthropic.com/research/discovering-cryptographic-weaknesses

Using Claude Mythos Preview, researchers at Anthropic have discovered improved ways to attack cryptographic algorithms (the mathematical methods used to keep online data private). The first attack significantly weakens HAWK, a digital signature scheme that was built for a post-quantum world. The second identifies a new way to attack round-reduced AES, the most widely used symmetric cipher. These are substantial research advances, but they do not currently affect any production systems. This post describes both findings in more detail and discusses the implications for cryptography in an age of powerful AI models.

The flaws identified do not concern a cryptographic standard currently in use today, which means that modern banking and communication systems are not subject to immediate potential intrusions from A.I. Instead, Anthropic’s technology cracked a watered-down version of an algorithm for Advanced Encryption Standard, or A.E.S., a ubiquitous protocol that safeguards web traffic, wireless networks, data storage and more.

So not exactly tough-to-crack, eh?

Mythos devised the cryptographic attack on A.E.S. almost entirely autonomously, Anthropic said, but only after first refusing to contemplate the problem because it believed it was impossible to improve on existing methods of analysis. But after some coaxing, the chatbot sat with the puzzle for about a week before engineering its novel attack. Two human researchers then worked for nearly a month to verify that the method appeared correct.

A week of processing? Wish I knew more about these systems. I wouldn't expect there's any way a single prompt-to-response took a week. Maybe it's some complex "agentic" setup that broke the problem out into parts, then worked on each part, validate it, then moved on. But that's pure speculation on my part.

Uuuuuhh how scary the US models are, wuuuuueh ! ..sigh..

Why are we even reposting these obnoxious misinformation articles on Lemmy ? It's lame Reddit material..