Why Encryption and Crypto Systems Fail and How to Preempt and Prevent Such Systems Failures: Cryptology beyond Shannon’s Information Theory: Preparing for When the ‘Enemy Knows the System’: Technical Focus on Number Field Sieve Cryptanalysis Algorithms for Most Efficient Prime Factorization on Composites

Abstract

The two fundamental axioms, Shannon’s Maxim and Kerckhoffs’s Principle, underlying the formulation of cryptography and encryption standards are analyzed to examine how they can be advanced in order to develop more robust encryption and cryptography mechanisms that can withstand the onslaught of attacks using increasingly sophisticated and efficient cryptanalysis algorithms such as NFS (Number Field Sieve).

Note: Within four weeks of the original publication of this research report, Google announced its intent to switch from RSA-1024 to RSA-2048. The original report was published about two weeks before the revelation of the Snowden affair in the public media.

Keywords: Cryptography, Encryption, Shannon’s Maxim, Kerckhoffs's Principle, Cryptanalysis Algorithms, Special Purpose Factoring Algorithms (SPFA), General Purpose Factoring Algorithms (GPFA), Algebraic Number Field Sieves, Number Field Sieve Algorithms, Primes Factorization, RSA-1024, RSA-2048

JEL Classification: C00, C6, C60, C63, C69, C8, D8, D80, D81, D82, D83, D84, L63, L86, F1, G1, O3