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5 years ago... Schoolgirl stuns IT security world
Where is she now?

By Will Sturgeon

Published: Tuesday 13 January 2004

13.01.99: A 16-year old Irish schoolgirl has developed a mathematical system that encrypts data far faster than the industry standard.

Sarah Flannery became Ireland's Young Scientist of the Year this week, after presenting her Cayley-Purser algorithm to mathematical experts. Judges described Flannery's work as brilliant, and advised her to publish her proof that the code is secure.

Flannery's success, entitled 'A new algorithm versus the RSA', is a direct challenge to the market leader, RSA Data Security - which uses code originally developed in the 1970s by three scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The judges found Flannery's code was 22 times faster than RSA's algorithm, according to Esat Telecom, which co-sponsored the Irish Young Scientists and Technology Exhibition.

13.01.04: Yes, but does she have any friends?

This real-life Doogie Howser of the computer science world hasn't rested on her laurels since finding fame as a teenage boffin in 1999. Since then, she has graduated with a computer science degree from Cambridge, in June 2003, and doubtless her degree certificate resides alongside her Irish and European Young Scientist of the Year awards.

She has also written a book entitled In Code: A Mathematical Journey, which is published by Profile Books, and was last seen working for Wolfram Research.