A Comparison of Practical Public Key Cryptosystems Based on Integer Factorization and Discrete LogarithmsPartial support for this work was provided by the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, and by Newbridge Microsystems (a division of Newbridge Networks Corporation), Kanata, Ontario.

based on the current literature, this survey carries out a detailed analysis of a version of the multiple polynomial quadratic sieve integer factorization algorithm, and of the Coppersmith algorithm for computing discrete logarithms in GF(2ⁿ). This is used for a practical security comparison between the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) cryptosystem and the El Gamal cryptosystem in fields of characteristic 2. Other aspects of the cryptosystems are also compared. In addition, the security of elliptic curve cryptosystems over GF(2ⁿ) is discussed, and related to that of the previously mentioned cryptosystems.