International Group of Scientists Cracks E-Commerce Security Code

AMSTERDAM — A team of scientists claimed Friday to have broken an international security code used to protect millions of daily Internet transactions, exposing a potentially serious security failure in electronic commerce.

Researchers working for the National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science in Amsterdam said consumers and some businesses could fall victim to computer hackers if they get their hands on the right tools.

However, not every computer whiz has access to the equipment, worth several million dollars, and no related Internet crimes have yet been uncovered, the experts said.

The scientists used a Cray 900-16 supercomputer, 300 personal computers and specially designed number-crunching software to break the RSA-155 code--the backbone of encryption codes designed to protect e-mail and credit card transactions.

“Your everyday hacker won’t be able to do this,” said project director Herman te Reile.

Te Reile said his international team of researchers, assisted by companies Microsoft and Sun Microsystems and professionals from Britain, Canada and Australia, took six weeks to crack the system.

The codes are used to protect information transmitted over the Internet--such as credit card numbers, stock transactions or private e-mail messages.