In reality the mathematical sciences have only a limited role to play in evaluating the true security of a cryptographic protocol. Admittedly it is tempting to hype up the centrality of mathematics in cryptography and use cryptographic applications as a marketing tool for mathematics, saying things like: “Number theory can provide the foundation for information security in an electronic world.” The first author pleads guilty to having made this statement to an audience of several thousand security specialists at the 2009 RSA Conference. In so doing he violated his own belief that scientists should show self-restraint and refrain from BS-ing (with apologies to the Notices editor, who asked us to be sure to write out all acronyms) the public.
-- Neal Koblitz and Alfred Menezes, The Brave New World of Bodacious Assumptions in Cryptography, Notices of the AMS, March 2010