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Claude Mythos finds attacks on post-quantum crypto algorithm HAWK

The AI-identified weakness would reduce the work to steal HAWK’s smallest key from 2^64 operations to 2^38, according to Decrypt, while patching would require larger key sizes.

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Decrypt reports that Anthropic said an unreleased version of its Claude Mythos Preview found two previously unknown attacks on crypto algorithms, including one aimed at HAWK, a digital signature system designed to remain secure against quantum computers.

In HAWK’s case, the outlet says Claude identified a mathematical symmetry that lowers the estimated cost of stealing the smallest key from 2^64 operations to 2^38, roughly 67 million times less work. Decrypt adds that fixing HAWK would involve roughly doubling its key sizes, and that change would remove much of the algorithm’s original appeal.

The report also notes that HAWK has never been deployed and that Bitcoin still uses ECDSA, the pre-quantum signature scheme post-quantum candidates are meant to replace. Decrypt frames the broader issue as a continuing overhang for crypto, since post-quantum security is central to the industry’s efforts to move to quantum-resistant schemes.

According to Decrypt, signature size affects block space and fees, and HAWK’s compact keys and fast signing were part of its pitch, while the proposed fix reduces that advantage. The piece concludes that AI may be forcing faster cryptography rebuilding than it is breaking it.

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