- I don't believe that the NSA recruits "the best and brightest"
Anecdote: I know a really smart guy. Degrees in mathematics and computer science who focused on security for his PhD. We talked about working for the NSA once, and his comment was once you're there you're sort of stuck because you can never publish or even talk about your research, so you struggle to show a future employer why you're the best candidate.
So I agree. The brightest people go elsewhere because they know they need to publish to maintain their status as the brightest.
4096 key RSA was broken through a pretty ingenious method at the end of 2013.
Totally hear you there. But that's the best part about 'breaking code'. Sometimes it has nothing to do with the code and everything to do with something adjacent. Here's twist. Sound waves are physical right? Lasers can sense vibration including on film through soundproof glass off the surface of a plant!. So we can literally take this technology and feasibly work it into a laser recoverable set. Coffee shop be damned.
I mean, why pick the lock if you can just burn the house down around the door?