The private keys in question were only eight bits in length (decimal values 0 to 255). A proper key for the specific encryption should have been 384 bits, or about 116 decimal digits. If a string format function expects a 384 bit number, but only receives 8, it might fill out the missing places with zeroes.
I’m OOTL. Why am I seeing the number 4 everywhere?
Indian certification authority eMudhra’s private keys compromised – one of them was the number ‘4’
I assume his private key ended up being mostly 4s?
“Mostly”, that’s commendable optimism on your part. Not mostly but entirely. It’s the entirety of the key: 4.
https://emudhra.we-have-a-problem.com/
Edit: the source I wanted to link is down, probably server overwhelm. Ask the search engine of your choice for emudhra.
Wasn’t it a bunch of zeros followed by a 4?
I’ve been lead to believe that that makes no difference.
Yes… but no. You probably saw a rendering error.
The private keys in question were only eight bits in length (decimal values 0 to 255). A proper key for the specific encryption should have been 384 bits, or about 116 decimal digits. If a string format function expects a 384 bit number, but only receives 8, it might fill out the missing places with zeroes.
Hahaha, yeah just read it. Amazing…