‘Wow, it’s a real discovery’: Claude cracks a 25-year NSA number mystery
An internal research model from Anthropic solved a 25-year-old cryptography mystery in under 30 minutes. Claude traced five elliptic curve seeds supplied by the NSA for NIST digital signature standards back to lrand48, a simple C random number generator from the 1990s. This discovery suggests the seeds were generated by a standard process rather than being carefully crafted to include hidden backdoors, addressing long-standing suspicions among security researchers regarding the integrity of these widely adopted security standards.
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- ✓ An internal Claude research model traced the origins of five NSA-supplied elliptic curve seeds in under 30 minutes.
- ✓ The seeds used in NIST standard curves for digital signatures were provided by the NSA without explanation.
- ✓ Claude identified that the seeds originated from lrand48, a simple C random number generator.
- ✓ The cryptography puzzle had remained open for approximately 25 years.
What changed
Anthropic revealed that Claude traced NIST ECDSA curve seeds to a 1990s random number generator.
Live updates
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Claude AI identifies origin of 25-year-old NSA cryptography seeds
An internal research model from Anthropic solved a 25-year-old cryptography mystery in under 30 minutes. Claude traced five elliptic curve seeds supplied by the NSA for NIST digital signature standards back to lrand48, a simple C random number generator from the 1990s. This discovery suggests the seeds were generated by a standard process rather than being carefully crafted to include hidden backdoors, addressing long-standing suspicions among security researchers regarding the integrity of these widely adopted security standards.
Why it matters
The NSA provided these seeds without explanation, leading researchers to fear the curves contained vulnerabilities. These standards are fundamental to modern digital signatures. Identifying the generator helps verify if the curves were chosen randomly or maliciously.
What is confirmed
- An internal Claude research model traced the origins of five NSA-supplied elliptic curve seeds in under 30 minutes.
- The seeds used in NIST standard curves for digital signatures were provided by the NSA without explanation.
- Claude identified that the seeds originated from lrand48, a simple C random number generator.
- The cryptography puzzle had remained open for approximately 25 years.
What to watch next
- Independent verification of the lrand48 link by third-party cryptographers
- Official response from the NSA or NIST regarding the seed origins
confidence 95%Sources used for this update (11)
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