From owner-freebsd-security Sat Aug 26 22:35:28 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-security@freebsd.org Received: from bsdie.rwsystems.net (bsdie.rwsystems.net [209.197.223.2]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4C80937B423 for ; Sat, 26 Aug 2000 22:35:26 -0700 (PDT) Received: from bsdie.rwsystems.net([209.197.223.2]) (1431 bytes) by bsdie.rwsystems.net via sendmail with P:esmtp/R:bind_hosts/T:inet_zone_bind_smtp (sender: ) id for ; Sun, 27 Aug 2000 00:32:45 -0500 (CDT) (Smail-3.2.0.106 1999-Mar-31 #1 built 1999-Aug-7) Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2000 00:32:44 -0500 (CDT) From: James Wyatt To: Garrett Wollman Cc: Adam Back , security@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: yarrow & /dev/random In-Reply-To: <200008270126.VAA70297@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Sat, 26 Aug 2000, Garrett Wollman wrote: > [Discussion redirected to -security.] > < said: > > > quality randomness from generic PC hardware. There is real entropy in > > that mouse swirl and keyboard input. > > In most of the applications where people really care (i.e., servers), > there is no mouse or keyboard input. On servers with no regular keyboard or mouse use, there is usually enough entropy in the disk and network IO to serve the purpose. Small servers with low net and disk entropy often get used as consoles for busier servers. Your mileage may vary, of course. What other sources of entropy might one consider? Maybe an AM radio tuned to static hooked into /dev/audio to get random samples? - Jy@ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-security" in the body of the message