Timothy McIntyre ([email protected])
Thu, 14 Jan 1999 12:20:46 -0800 (PST)
still amazed that U2 doesn't have a proper homepage yet,
Tim
Teen Devises New Crypto Cipher
by Niall McKay
3:00 a.m. 14.Jan.99.PST
An Irish teenager has invented a new
data-encryption technology with the potential to
be just as secure -- but 22 times faster -- than
the battle-tested RSA encryption algorithm.
Sarah Flannery, 16, got the idea for the
algorithm during a two-week work-experience
program at the Dublin, Ireland-based
data-security company Baltimore Technologies.
"The idea is to exploit matrices-based
multiplication, which is a shorter and simpler
approach than the RSA technique," said Sarah.
US encryption experts view the pronouncement
of equal security with some skepticism.
"It's really exciting that a 16-year-old has
developed any encryption technology, good or
bad," said Dave Del Torto, executive director of
CryptoRights Foundation. "But we need more
information about the algorithm, and for any
encryption to be taken seriously, it takes years
of analysis and public review."
Sarah's new algorithm has won her first place in
Ireland's prestigious Young Scientists
competition. She has become a darling of the
international media, featured on the front page of
The Times of London and on ABC News.
"It's just being crazy," she said. "I don't know
where I am. I have done over 100 interviews, and
I have to go back to school Thursday."
That will be no ordinary school day for Sarah
and students at Scoil Mhuire in Blarney, County
Cork. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern is
scheduled to drop by Thursday to present an
award to Sarah and her classmate Vincent
Foley, another Young Scientist winner who
devised a way to remove the blocky effect in
enlarged digitized images.
Despite many offers of employment and
university scholarships, Sarah said she'll
concentrate on graduation first. She also plans
to publish her encryption technology, called the
Cayley-Purser algorithm.
"I named it after the 19th century Cambridge
expert on matrices, Arthur Cayley, and
Baltimore's founder, Michael Purser, who gave
me the original idea," she explained.
________________________________________
Timothy McIntyre
Boston University School of Law
[email protected]
http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~timothym
"The writer never seeks admiration.
He wants to be believed."
--Jean LeCocteau
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