Somebody already has copied this innovative approach and travelled to past apparently: https://acme.com/software/securepage/
Methods like these go way further back than 2010... I recall one that had a reward promised if you could break it.
EDIT: Here's a patent from 2006 [0]
[0] https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloa...
Here's one I remember: http://jgae.de/sdaeng.htm
From here: https://pajhome.org.uk/crypt/md5/uses.html#sdp
I used this many years ago, like literally 20 years ago. And it appears to have had a bounty! Maybe it is what you recall as well!
Methods like these go way further back than 2010... I recall one that had a reward promised if you could break it.
EDIT: Here's a patent from 2006 [0]
[0] https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloa...
Here's one I remember: http://jgae.de/sdaeng.htm
From here: https://pajhome.org.uk/crypt/md5/uses.html#sdp
I used this many years ago, like literally 20 years ago. And it appears to have had a bounty! Maybe it is what you recall as well!