From owner-freebsd-arch Mon Jun 19 10:24:12 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from grimreaper.grondar.za (grimreaper.grondar.za [196.7.18.138]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C02EB37BD1B; Mon, 19 Jun 2000 10:23:58 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from mark@grondar.za) Received: from grimreaper.grondar.za (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by grimreaper.grondar.za (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA00697; Mon, 19 Jun 2000 16:16:29 +0200 (SAST) (envelope-from mark@grimreaper.grondar.za) Message-Id: <200006191416.QAA00697@grimreaper.grondar.za> To: Dag-Erling Smorgrav Cc: Dan Moschuk , arch@FreeBSD.ORG, phk@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: (2nd iteration) New /dev/(random|null|zero) - review, please References: In-Reply-To: ; from Dag-Erling Smorgrav "19 Jun 2000 14:34:50 +0200." Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 16:16:29 +0200 From: Mark Murray Sender: owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > The idea of built-in hardware RNGs bothers me a little. How can the > manufacturer guarantee that all units are perfectly identical and > indistinguishable? Is it conceivable that a hardware RNG might leave > (be it by accident or by design) some kind of fingerprint in its > output that might be detectable if you know what to look for? Reminds > me of Sherlock Holmes comparing typewritten documents to see if they > were produced on the same typewriter. This can be dealt with - hash the output into a "pool of entropy" and serve the randomness out of that. M -- Mark Murray Join the anti-SPAM movement: http://www.cauce.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-arch" in the body of the message