That makes sense. I think it unlikely they've discovered an actual break through. They do have their own fab, how many chips do you need to build to Mae that worthwhile? It's the US government after all, a machine with 10million specialized RSA chips doesn't seem impossibly difficult, just expensive.
Governments are big, dumb animals, so make whatever you're trying to protect very expensive ($20-50 Billion range) to brute-force within usability constraints.
Btw... apart from Scrypt paper, has anyone put together a practical guide on crypto parameter brute force costs? (say volume pricing of gear and asics in huge qty)
