Factorization of RSA-250

by kissickason 4/8/20, 7:29 PMwith 5 comments
by zakkon 4/8/20, 11:44 PM

Estimating a cost of 1 cent per core-hour, this cost more than 200k€. Since INRIA is a national research institute, I am guessing at least part of this has been paid with taxpayer money, either directly from the Institute or from grants.

I am wondering how such an expense can be justified.

It's an honest question: I find all of this very exciting and brilliant, however having written grant proposals myself, I am wondering how could they 'sell' factoring larger and larger numbers as worth funding.