Curious RNG stalemate [was: use of cpunks]

Eugen Leitl eugen at leitl.org
Thu Oct 17 13:45:05 PDT 2013


On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 12:56:01PM -0400, grarpamp wrote:

> Problem is, apparently no one is solving it, so round and round
> it goes... physical entropy, rdrand, reboot state, prng code.
> I'd guess that with good sources, today's prng code is sufficiently
> strong and at least some unix systems do save state across reboot.
> Now if someone would just sell a completely open discrete logic
> serial port hw entropy source for under $50... that would end

There's an ARM system in there: http://www.entropykey.co.uk/
but in principle you can resurrect something like that, or
wait until the company sees fit to sell that product again.

> a lot of the talk. Even with a more costly radiation source rather

You don't need radiation. 12 USD USB SDR can sample 1.5 Msamples/s
at 8 bit, and http://www.maximintegrated.com/app-notes/index.mvp/id/3469
is as simple as it gets, and is amplifies effectively quantum
noise. 

I'm not sure how complex 
http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=35&Level=4&Conn=3&ProdID=257
is, but you can certainly decap a representative sample from
each lot to validate it.

> than other phenomena you'd still likely make good profit in quantity
> from China at that price. Sell other/cheaper/slower phenomena
> for a little less and make even more profit. Seal some up in
> a pretty wrapper and call it the corporate version for $1500.

Seems like a decent business idea.



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