-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
On 02/18/2012 03:02 PM, Paul Hoffman wrote:
> Really? Many cryptographers would say that number of unpredictable
> bits is very much a part of the question? ...
Of course it is. What I meant was that if /dev/random returns data,
its contract is to return good random data based on good entropy. It
isn't an application's job to second guess what /dev/random is doing.
In theory /dev/random gathers random data from the timing of various
interrupt. Things like ethernet packet inter-arrival time for
example. Even on a system without a keyboard (aka human to bang on it)
there should be some sources of real entropy available.
My concern about virtual machines is that the hypervisor layer may
reduce the entropy in these inter-arrival times by quantifying them
into discrete time intervals.
-Jeff
- --
_______________________________________________________________________
Jeffrey I. Schiller
MIT Technologist, Consultant, and Cavy Breeder
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
617.910.0259 - Voice
j...@qyv.net
http://jis.qyv.name
_______________________________________________________________________
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
iD8DBQFPQBtM8CBzV/QUlSsRAoRMAJ9OwEKWOCPHNLJJh3d6JFQo8eJ2dwCg6Psd
hkeK7b1nLtEFIqx8xRBHetI=
=E8+e
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
_______________________________________________
cryptography mailing list
cryptography@randombit.net
http://lists.randombit.net/mailman/listinfo/cryptography
