# Anthropic Traces NIST Curve Seeds

Anthropic researchers traced the seeds used for five NIST elliptic curves to the 1990s lrand48 pseudorandom number generator, with timestamp patterns pointing to 1997–1998. The findings do not demonstrate a cryptographic break or weakness. For federal procurement professionals and contractors, the news is relevant to cryptographic assurance and the history of standards, but it identifies no specific procurement opportunity or immediate change to acquisition requirements.

- Contractors supporting federal systems can use the findings as context in discussions of cryptographic assurance and the provenance of NIST curve parameters.
- The research does not establish that systems using these curves are vulnerable or need replacement; the signal itself supports no procurement or compliance action.

**Jurisdictions:** federal
**Industries:** Information Technology
**Topics:** Cybersecurity
**Published:** October 16, 2026

### Government Entities
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- National Security Agency (NSA)

### Sources
- [Anthropic Traces NIST Curve Seeds to a 1990s Random Generator](https://suaragarut.id/en/anthropic-traces-nist-curve-seeds) - SuaraGarut.ID