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A Cryptographic Puzzle that seemed unbreakable till 2034, solved by self-taught programmer

R Sinduja

News Editor
Image Credit: BERNARD FABROT

A famed cryptography expert 'Ron Rivest' designed a complex puzzle in 1999, that when decoded would unlock a time capsule placed beneath MIT's CSAIL building. He expected to take 35 years for the puzzle to be solved because it involved a verifiable delay function called a cryptographic function. Now, after 20 years, a self-taught Belgian programmer named Bernard Fabrot has solved the puzzle & his timing was impeccable.