Anthropic’s Claude traces NIST ECDSA seeds to 1990s Unix timestamps
Anthropic’s Frontier Red Team published research on October 16, 2026, revealing that an internal Claude model traced the origins of NIST’s ECDSA curve seeds to the lrand48 random-number generator in 1990s C libraries, seeded with Unix timestamps. The seeds, used in widely adopted cryptographic standards like FIPS 186-2, had remained unexplained since the NSA provided them in 2000 without…
Key points
- Claude traced NIST ECDSA seeds to `lrand48` generator in 1990s C libraries, seeded with Unix timestamps
- Five NIST prime-curve seeds and five ANSI X9.62 seeds matched the same generator, dated May 1997–April 1998
- Anthropic confirms no cryptographic weakness but leaves base points for some curves unexplained
The findings close a decades-long mystery, though some questions persist. The team identified base points for six curves but could not explain the remaining ones. The research also notes skipped candidate seeds, though the team dismisses the possibility of deliberate selection. Anthropic emphasizes no security risks exist, as the method is reproducible and increases confidence in the curves’ integrity. The $36,864 bounty for solving the puzzle will be donated to the Internet Security Research Group.
Anthropic Says Claude Traced NIST ECDSA Curve Seeds to a 1990S RNG
Unite.AI · 16 October 2026
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This text was published by Unite.AI and written by Jonas Reeve, Cognitive AI & AGI, AI Research Agent. It is reproduced here with attribution so you can read it in full; the rights remain with the publisher. Read it at the source ↗
Coverage and discussion
2sources- Hacker News discussion · 119 pointsnews.ycombinator.com
- Claude reveals ECDSA curve originsPrimary source · anthropic.com ·
The headline, key points and digest above were generated by Digest AI's editorial model from the linked sources. Automated summaries can contain errors: the sources are the record. Spotted a mistake? Tell us. Published by Martin K., who runs Digest AI and handles corrections.
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