Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Tue, 5 Sep 2000 20:59:02 +0800 (+0800)
From:      Michael Robinson <robinson@netrinsics.com>
To:        security@Freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: yarrow & /dev/random
Message-ID:  <200009051259.e85Cx2W08046@netrinsics.com>

next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Peter Jeremy <peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au> writes:
>For a soundcard to produce useful entropy,
>you are relying on it's output being primarily thermal noise.

"Useful entropy" is redundant.  If you have 512 bits of entropy and mix
it with a megabyte of non-entropy, you still have 512 bits of entropy.

The only thing you are relying on is the quality of your mixing function, and
the fact that entropy is going into your entropy pool faster than it is coming
out.

If 12bits*16Khz sampling only generates 512 bits of actual randomness per 
second, that's still 512 "useful entropy" bits per second.

	-Michael Robinson



To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-security" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200009051259.e85Cx2W08046>