Factorization Using the Quadratic Sieve Algorithm

Since the cryptosecurity of the RSA two key cryptoalgorithm is no greater than the difficulty of factoring the modulus (product of two secret primes), a code that implements the Quadratic Sieve factorization algorithm on the CRAY I computer has been developed at the Sandia National Laboratories to determine as sharply as possible the current state-of-the-art in factoring. Because all viable attacks on RSA thus far proposed are equivalent to factorization of the modulus, sharper bounds on the computational difficulty of factoring permit improved estimates for the size of RSA parameters needed for given levels of cryptosecurity.