Mailing List Archive


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[tlug] /dev/random is truly random?



Hi,

Linux's /dev/random is made from <kernel source>/drivers/char/random.c
The seed used there is system timer, and it adds more "noise" from
divice drives like keyboard "to have numbers which are not only
random, but hard to * predict by an attacker." ( quote from the
comment of the source code ) ( Yet, the seed is still timer! ).

The term hard is confusing and doesn't have any metrics.

My questions are:

* How "hard" it is to predict the randomness of /dev/random ?
* Is there any way to choose a seed other than the system timer ?
* Any example run ( or papers ) out there on how to predict the
randomnese of /dev/random ( or the randomese of ( computer generated )
random number ?

--
Best Regards,
Nguyen Hung Vu
vuhung16plus{remove}@??
VIQR Standard: http://vi.i18n.kde.org/viqr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vuhung/tags/fav/


Home | Main Index | Thread Index

Home Page Mailing List Linux and Japan TLUG Members Links