I always found RSA kind of funny.
Oh, so what you're saying is that security of pretty much every computer system is based on the fact that after thousands of years nobody found an efficient way to turn C into A times B? But look, i can do it on paper though? Oh so you defend against pen on paper attacks by just making C large beyond comprehension? Alright, whatever you say.
It really does sound kinda silly when rephrased like this.
Recently though, quantum computers have been threatening global security by being not half bad at the whole C = A x B thing. Greatest minds of last generations have been hard at work to design new cryptosystems. I was wondering what are the results of that. Surely you would need more than multiplication to defeat quantum computers?
So i decided to check out LWE.
To combat the new adversary, the solution turned out to be sets of equation. Sets of linear equations with multiple variables, EXCEPT we add a tiny error to the right hand sides! Just a tiny bit of error, such as -1 here or +1 there.
Oh so you just take an exercise from my first year math coursebook? But look i already solved it last week. Oh you are gonna add one to the right side? Thats okay i dont think it is going to be much more difficult. Wait, youre saying thats almost impossible now? Damn okay.
Now i know that there is a humongous amount of math behind both LWE and RSA. I have read some of it, understood like half of what i've read and could repeat perhaps like one or two proofs by heart. For the record, this post comes from genuine appreciation for math and cryptography as a whole.
I still think it is pretty funny to think about it this way.