In a blog post published July 28, representatives from Anthropic's Frontier Red Team said Claude Mythos Preview independently developed new cryptanalytic techniques against two different targets: a version of AES-128, one of the world's most widely used encryption algorithms, and HAWK, an experimental post-quantum digital signature scheme currently being evaluated as part of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) effort to standardize cryptography for the quantum computing age.
AES protects huge amounts of everyday digital life, from encrypted websites and messaging apps to Wi-Fi networks and financial transactions. But the version Anthropic attacked wasn't the full AES-128 algorithm used in those systems. Instead, the researchers studied a seven-round version of AES, a deliberately weakened variant long used by cryptographers to test new attack techniques.
The more significant result may instead involve HAWK. Unlike AES, which has protected data for more than two decades, HAWK is a relatively new digital signature scheme designed to resist attacks from future quantum computers. It's one of the remaining candidates in NIST's additional post-quantum signature standardization process, meaning it is still being scrutinized by researchers before its widespread deployment.
Thomas Espitau, head of research at PQShield
Thomas Espitau — head of research at PQShield, a cybersecurity company that specializes in post-quantum cryptography, and a cryptographer who has published research on HAWK — described the work as "one of the most, if not the most significant, cryptanalytic result of the year."
Espitau said the attack combined previously known techniques with one missing mathematical insight that Claude identified, substantially reducing HAWK's estimated security margin. He believes the work demonstrates how AI could increasingly help researchers evaluate the strength of cryptographic systems before they are adopted.
Building defensive measures
However, not everyone thinks the announcement means AI suddenly outsmarted human cryptographers.
Instead, Faux said the bigger story is AI's ability to apply expert-level cryptanalysis across thousands of algorithms that relatively few researchers have had time to examine.
Related stories
Science word of the day: CryptologyQuantum computing will make cryptography obsolete. But computer scientists are working to make them unhackable.Scientists create new type of encryption that protects video files against quantum computing attacks
"The HAWK attack used no exotic ingredients; it simply competently assembled tools that were already lying around," she said. "A post-quantum candidate is seriously scrutinized by maybe a few dozen people on the planet, so beating two years of review mostly reveals how thin that layer of review is."
For consumers, the immediate implications are reassuring. The encryption protecting online banking, shopping, messaging and cloud storage has not suddenly become obsolete. But for the researchers designing the next generation of cryptography, Anthropic's work hints that AI could soon help cryptographers test tomorrow's encryption schemes more quickly and more thoroughly than has previously been possible.
Hence then, the article about ai found a weakness in one of the world s most studied encryption systems is your data under threat was published today ( ) and is available on Live Science ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( AI found a weakness in one of the world's most studied encryption systems — is your data under threat? )
Also on site :
- Prime Video’s ‘Ride Or Die’ To Be Submitted As Comedy With Stars Hannah Waddingham & Octavia Spencer In Lead Actress Consideration For TV Awards
- ‘Trump 2028’: President poses as decorated general and threatens to run again in bizarre series of AI posts
- ‘She had a future and it was taken’: Family and friends release balloons for 14-year-old Zah’nia Barr, shot and killed in Rochester