Matthew Green's Verdict on Anthropic's Cryptanalysis: HAWK Result Is Real, the AES Attack Is Not a Practical Break
Cryptography Engineering / Hacker News·high signal
Cryptographer Matthew Green posted a 2026-07-29 assessment (168 points, 96 comments on HN) splitting Anthropic's two results sharply. He calls the HAWK attack significant precisely because HAWK was advancing toward standardization and 'none of the ingredients are exotic' -- the model won by thoroughly applying existing tools, not inventing new mathematics. The 7-round AES result he calls 'a small increment in our knowledge, not a practical new attack': it needs 2^89 cipher operations and 2^105 chosen plaintexts, and full 10-14 round AES remains secure.