A bounty of $12,288 has been announced for the person who can decipher the origins of the NIST elliptic curves seeds and uncover the English phrases that were hashed to create them.
Furthermore, this challenge was initiated by cryptography specialist Filippo Valsorda, with support from renowned figures in the cryptography and cybersecurity community, including experts from Johns Hopkins University, Chromium, and AWS. These seeds are crucial components in modern cryptography, used to generate cryptographic keys, and were created using information provided by the NSA in 1997.
While they are specified by their coefficients and random seed values, the mystery surrounding their exact origins has persisted, leading to speculation and concern within the cryptographic community.
In elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), seeds serve as initial inputs for encryption algorithms, generating secure cryptographic keysc. NIST elliptic curves, such as P-192, P-224, P-256, P-384, and P-521, are integral to modern cryptography but were generated using seeds provided by the NSA. Rumors and research have suggested that these seeds may be hashes of English sentences provided to Dr. Jerry Solinas by the NSA.
However, the exact methodology behind their creation remains unknown. Concerns have arisen within the cryptographic community, with some speculating that intentional weaknesses in these curves could compromise data security.
Solving this cryptographic puzzle not only carries historical significance but could also alleviate fears of hidden vulnerabilities and intentional weaknesses in NIST elliptic curves. The challenge offers both intrigue and importance, especially following Dr. Solinas’ passing. Filippo Valsorda believes that individuals with sufficient GPU power and passphrase brute-forcing experience could crack the presumed SHA-1 hashes to reveal the original sentences.
The bounty will be split between the first person to submit at least one pre-seed sentence and the first person to submit the complete package of five sentences, with the option to triple the award if donated to a 501(c)(3) charity.
