"random" number seeds vs. Netscape

[Ed Carp [khijol SysAdmin]]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

> Very interesting. I wouldn't be too sure that a transmitted signal at a
> single frequency is the only signal that an opponent could use to bias your
> random numbers. How do you "test for randomness". I think that signal to
> noise arguments, phrased in terms of entropy, can protect you against
> unknown and unwanted signal. (Ironically you want a very low signal to
> noise ratio!) Perhaps you merely take n/(S/N) bits from the HRNG when you
> need n bits and run them thru MD5. Here S is the signal strength of the
> maximum plausible unwanted signal, and N is the noise of the diode.

I tested for randomness by looking at the distribution of random numbers 
over the range I was drawing random numbers from.  If it didn't look 
random, it wasn't ;)
- --
Ed Carp, N7EKG    			Ed.Carp at linux.org, ecarp at netcom.com
					214/993-3935	voicemail/pager
Finger ecarp at netcom.com for PGP 2.5 public key		an88744 at anon.penet.fi

Q.	What's the trouble with writing an MS-DOS program to emulate Clinton?
A.	Figuring out what to do with the other 639K of memory.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2

iQCVAwUBMGdK9SS9AwzY9LDxAQHdVQQAjwez1skYK8eaClLEq7mCb0V8aPERe/58
3AxH5W9JuaJqWD/nArVLW7HAY4tOM5Sjb2IHZsK3wF29Bd3A/TI0GM5Y1y2vOF9P
rNlkM2schf2nfsx7BdfqxWYELxCRUUeZTIagxwWSNMmCbMS22bMiYguVnxHqrjj1
g9n1fCzVDHA=
=tpBm
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----