Chapter 219 The Price of Cooperation
There has always been a lot of research in cryptography around how to crack RSA, precisely because it is important.
So it is particularly meaningful to crack it.
So when Oraz said that the global banking business was no longer safe, Schnander’s first reaction was RSA.
Only if RSA is breached, it means that the entire banking business will fall into an unprecedented crisis. The security cornerstone of the bank will be breached for the first time, which will trigger a global crisis of trust in banking business.
RSA is not only related to bank security, but the security of almost all financial businesses such as securities and options cannot be separated from the protection of RSA algorithm.
To be precise, the global financial business will face an unprecedented crisis.
The bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish. The more sensational the event, the more valuable it is to operate.
Schnande quickly realized that there was room for manipulation, shorting global banks? No, shorting global traditional financial businesses.
With the strength of Goldman Sachs, once they go short, they will make at least tens of billions of dollars in profit, and it will have to be several hundred dollars more.
As for triggering a national banking crisis, causing a much greater impact than the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley banks, and even putting the federal financial industry into trouble, this is not what Goldman Sachs has to consider.
The federal financial business is in crisis, which is another opportunity for Goldman Sachs. They eat more than one fish. When the time comes, the Federal Reserve comes to the rescue. Goldman Sachs obtains the special loan issued by the Federal Reserve and makes large purchases in the capital market. This is What a wonderful thing.
Schnander showed no emotion on the surface, but his hands were trembling slightly. He had been attracted by such a beautiful prospect.
“Yes, what Mr. Samad means is that he has broken the RSA algorithm, and he will publish a detailed paper one day in the future to disclose to the world that RSA is no longer safe.
borrow This opportunity is shorting global banking," Oraz said.
Schnande knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The fines he paid in Malaysia could be repaid hundreds of times this time.
Being short on the global banking industry, let’s start with Malaysia. It will give Malaysia a little shock from the Asian financial crisis, Schnand thought.
“The power of Goldman Sachs alone is not enough.” Schnander said.
Olaz shook his head: "I'm just a messenger. I don't know what Mr. Samad thinks about it.
I've said what I know. Goldman Sachs can let me know after they think about it. , when to start.”
Schnander stood up and shook hands with Oraz: "I look forward to the next meeting.
I need to go back to the headquarters to communicate this matter. Please help me convey my wish to see Mr. Samad in person."
Schnander did not waste a moment and returned to New York with the latest intelligence.
“That’s roughly the situation.” Schnander told the information Samad revealed.
“We need the collective cooperation of finance, media, and Washington to complete the hunt for the global banking industry.
This will be a feast, gathering the strength of the United States to hunt global banking business.
Samad gave us such an excellent opportunity. "
"We need to consider the risks, whether this will trigger a financial crisis in advance, and whether this round of financial crisis will have a more fatal impact on the federation.
At this point in time, the financial crisis will seriously weaken the federation's national strength. "
"This is not something we need to consider. Besides, the financial crisis is an opportunity for us, isn't it?
It is true that the Federation has suffered losses, and the losses suffered by other countries will only be greater.
We know what will happen in the future in advance, prepare in advance, and reap the benefits brought by global banking business, which is enough to help the federation minimize losses. "
This is a pure lie. Every time there is a financial crisis, the giants make money and the federal government loses. Otherwise, the federal debt would not have skyrocketed year after year, and it would skyrocket once in a financial crisis.
The interests of the financial giants and the interests of the Federation are not completely consistent.
“I think we need to consider one thing, and that is in what sense is Samad’s breach.
No matter how the RSA algorithm is changed, it can guarantee a breakthrough in seconds, or is it just a basic breakthrough.
It can be cracked within 30 seconds under the 2048-bit RSA algorithm, but it cannot be cracked after it becomes 4096-bit.
The concept of this breakthrough is too big, it depends on the specific level of Samad's breakthrough. "Marco Argenti, chief information officer of Goldman Sachs, said.
"If it is a widespread breach, it means that for some time in the future, global financial businesses will no longer be safe.
Financial businesses around the world need to find new encryption algorithms to replace RSA.
If the RSA algorithm is completely broken in a broad sense, it is impossible to solve the problem with a few simple lines of new code.
Any effective solution release will take at least a few years, whether it is testing or deployment, it will take time.
And the process of switching to the new algorithm is not easy, because the authentication infrastructure also needs to be updated, which maintains the certificate level used to verify the public key. Basically, current mainstream browsers rely on RSA algorithm.
In short, the impact of the RSA algorithm being broken will last for several years. During these years, the entire Internet will no longer be safe. "Marco Argenti said. "So this is an opportunity, and there are too many shortcomings.
Information gaps are opportunities.
Samad knows that he cannot take advantage of such an opportunity on his own, but Goldman Sachs can. He hopes to follow Goldman Sachs and get a share of this feast? "The bald white man Solomon, the president of Goldman Sachs, was smiling.
He couldn't imagine how big a piece of cake this would be, so big that he felt that even Goldman Sachs' strength couldn't eat it.
"I I think what we need to do now is to formulate a strategy. In order to minimize the impact, I suggest that we start with the banking industry in Europe and Neon, and short the banks in these places first. Schnander said.
Marco Argenti seemed to remember something. She searched frantically on the laptop in front of her:
"I think I know how Samad did it.
Must have cracked the RSA algorithm in a broad sense."
Argenti said after finding what she was looking for.
Solomon asked: "Marco, what did you find again?"
Marco Argenti said: "RSA algorithm, I know how Samad did it, and this What kind of crack is cracking?
In 21 years, the German cryptographer Klaus Peter Schnoll claimed in his paper that he had found a way to crack the RSA encryption system.
Earlier, as early as 1994, Peter Shor proposed the Shor algorithm named after him.
This algorithm can crack the RSA encryption system in a very short time using a quantum computer.
That is to say, a large enough quantum computer can crack the RSA algorithm.
In 2001, IBM demonstrated the use of a quantum computer to decompose 15 into 3*5.
The algorithm proposed by Klaus Peter Schnorr is also inseparable from quantum computers.
Just because the current quantum computers are not strong enough, they cannot break the 1024-bit RSA encryption in a short time, and quantum computers have achieved a breakthrough.
Once the algorithm is updated, combined with the breakthrough of quantum computers, RSA will obviously become no longer reliable.
So what Samad said was true, he breached an otherwise impregnable fortress in a broad sense. ”
Argenti looked at Wikipedia’s introduction to Shor’s algorithm and combined it with the fact that last year, China advanced the qubits to tens of thousands for the first time.
Argenti instantly realized that RSA had truly been breached.
Argenti continued: "Peter's paper in 2021 attracted widespread attention from the cryptography and security circles. At that time, Google CEO Pichai said that within 5-10 years, quantum Computing will break encryption as we know it today. In fact, his estimate was accurate: within five years, RSA would no longer be reliable."
That's five years. arrive.
Argenti doesn’t know why he feels sad. Maybe it’s because nothing in this world is eternal. No matter how strong the fortress is, it will be breached one day.
After the RSA algorithm was proposed, it has protected human information security for almost 40 years, and now it has also ushered in the day of elimination.
Others have no sad thoughts about the rapid development of technology. Everyone is excited that they can harvest the world soon:
“We have to make a plan, we need some allies, and everything with us Share this piece of cake."
"Yes, we have to make a detailed plan so that this opportunity will not be missed again."
"Those who know this now, Apart from us, the only one left is Samad. We must hold him steady and we must not let him disobey the arrangements and ruin our plans.”
"Since Samad wants to share the cake, he will definitely not mess around.
It's just how much should we give him?"
"Don't he have 200 million U.S. dollars in capital? , give him 200 million, double it, he will be satisfied, right?
In this damn place like Malaysia, 200 million US dollars is already a sky-high price.”
“Schnande goes and talks with you. Talk to him and see what he wants.”
"What is our bottom line?"
"$500 million, the bottom line is this. He just provided information gaps, specific traders, from fund preparation to media cooperation, these are all our Let’s do it.
He has no capital arbitrage, and $500 million is enough.”
“I also think that $500 million is the most expensive information security breach in the world. This price is more appropriate.”
The executives at Goldman Sachs here have no idea that the most fundamental reason why they can make tens of billions of dollars in profits comes from Samad’s technological breakthrough.
(End of this chapter)