'I want to see numbers get factored.'
— Ron Rivest, on Claus Schnorr's proposed algorithm for factorization that claims it could defeat the RSA cryptosystem.
"Of course I asked the author first of all, and I asked Claus what's going on here? Do you really believe this destroys the RSA cryptosystem? Do you have any demonstrated factorization? ... And I pointed him to some criticisms on the Web that he hadn't seen. And so he looked at those, and so he posted as recently as four days ago an updated version of his paper. So I think the dust still hasn't settled on this yet. As everything I tend to be skeptical until the proof is in the pudding in factoring. I want to see numbers get factored."
Shamir said, "One thing I can promise is that if Claus Schnorr's approach succeeds, I will be the first to applaud, and I will not sue Claus Schnorr in any way or form."
(Image by tryfonov via Adobe Stock)