Anthropic's Claude traces NIST curve seeds to 1990s random-number generator
Anthropic said an internal AI model found that numbers the NSA supplied in the 1990s came from a common software routine, answering years of backdoor suspicion.
By Standard Topic. AI-generated from the reporting listed under Coverage. Published . Updated .
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What happened
Anthropic's Frontier Red Team said in a research publication that an internal Claude research model traced the origins of NIST ECDSA curve seeds to the lrand48 random-number generator in the C library. The NSA had provided the seeds in the 1990s without explanation, which fueled long-standing suspicion of a built-in backdoor. The model reportedly worked out the answer in under 30 minutes.
Why it matters
The finding points to a basic computer program rather than a hidden backdoor as the source of the seeds behind NIST's digital signature standards. Bitcoin was not on that list, but its quantum problem remains unresolved.
Timeline
- Oct 16, 2026: Anthropic's Frontier Red Team publishes a research paper on the origins of the NIST curve seeds.
- Oct 16, 2026: The internal Claude research model is credited with tracing the seeds to the lrand48 generator.
- Oct 17, 2026: Coverage follows, with commentary on what the finding means for bitcoin's quantum concerns.
Coverage
- Anthropics' Claude cracks a 25-year-old NSA cryptography mystery in under 30 minutes (the-decoder.com)
- Anthropic’s Claude cracks a 25-year NSA curve mystery, what it means for bitcoin (coindesk.com)
- Anthropic Says Claude Traced NIST Curve Seeds to 1990s Timestamps (The Defiant Team)
- Anthropic Says Claude Traced NIST ECDSA Curve Seeds to a 1990S RNG (unite.ai)
- Claude reveals ECDSA curve origins (anthropic.com)
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