[OT] Combinatronics WAS Re: /dev/random and linux security issues (kinda long)

[Christopher Schmidt]

On Mon, May 16, 2005 at 08:08:17AM -0400, Jerry Feldman wrote:
> On Sunday 15 May 2005 9:49 pm, David Ecklein wrote:
> > For a "truly random" source, it might be best to use a good white noise
> > source, such as a properly chosen and biased point contact silicon diode
> > or the like.  For something in between and completely accessible to a
> > software approach, the computer clock could be factored into a
> > prospective algorithm.
> A Russian programmer I once workedith on a compiler project mentioned that 
> in Russia (then the USSR) they used real atomic random number generators, 
> but we could not because of our safety laws and regulations.

Isn't that exactly what the P3 first included?

"Intel's Pentium III introduced a hardware random number generator that
uses thermal noise "to generate high-quality random and nondeterministic
numbers"" -- http://www.aplawrence.com/Basics/randomnumbers.html

Of course, that's still, as the article points out, possible to compute.
Maybe. If you really needed to. But it's certainly an external and at
least less deterministic source.

-- 
Christopher Schmidt
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
Url : http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/private/gnhlug-discuss/attachments/20050516/99b10241/attachment.bin