Claude solves a 20-year-old cryptography cold case in half an hour, revealing that the academic community had been on the wrong track for two decades

What happened: Anthropic said Claude identified how the seeds for five NIST standard elliptic curves were generated in under half an hour, pointing to a 1990s computer clock rather than a joke passphrase about raises. Key numbers: Under 30 minutes; five curves (P-192, P-224, P-256, P-384, P-521); 34 generator and truncation combinations tested; seeds traced to May 1997 to Why it matters: The finding was independently reviewed by the bounty's issuer, and the content states the curves have no potential security flaws. Some gaps remain, including skipped candidate curves and the B-163 seed.

Anthropic said Claude identified how the seeds for five NIST standard elliptic curves were generated in under half an hour, pointing to a 1990s computer clock rather than a joke passphrase about raises.

The finding was independently reviewed by the bounty's issuer, and the content states the curves have no potential security flaws. Some gaps remain, including skipped candidate curves and the B-163 seed.