RSA-260 Factorized: A 782-Digit Prime Divisor Revealed

In a stunning breakthrough, a user named penlu on X (formerly Twitter) announced a factorization of RSA-260, one of the largest unsolved RSA challenge numbers. The post reveals a 782-digit prime divisor, a feat previously thought to be decades away with classical computing. The announcement has sparked widespread reactions, including from Alec Muffett, who helped factor RSA-155 in 1999, and jokes about the divisor being someone's iPhone password. This raises urgent questions about the future of RSA encryption.

damn that was my iphone password
  1. nk_kolja

    Impressive. I wonder the methodology. Algorithmic improvements? More probably just an implementational optimisation. Last RSA record was due to special q sieving methods if I recall well, some 3k core hours.

    I hope there’s a theoretical improvement behind the result.

  2. drfuchs

    Can I decode my DVD collection now?

  3. dclavijo

    What was the methodology,software, hardware, cpu cores, time taken?

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2026-09-04