The Linux /dev/random driver says: ---> * Sources of randomness from the environment include inter-keyboard * timings, inter-interrupt timings from some interrupts, and other * events which are both (a) non-deterministic and (b) hard for an * outside observer to measure. Randomness from these sources are * added to an "entropy pool", which is mixed using a CRC-like function. * This is not cryptographically strong, but it is adequate assuming * the randomness is not chosen maliciously, and it is fast enough that * the overhead of doing it on every interrupt is very reasonable. * As random bytes are mixed into the entropy pool, the routines keep * an *estimate* of how many bits of randomness have been stored into * the random number generator's internal state. * * When random bytes are desired, they are obtained by taking the SHA * hash of the contents of the "entropy pool". The SHA hash avoids * exposing the internal state of the entropy pool. It is believed to * be computationally infeasible to derive any useful information * about the input of SHA from its output. Even if it is possible to * analyze SHA in some clever way, as long as the amount of data * returned from the generator is less than the inherent entropy in * the pool, the output data is totally unpredictable. For this * reason, the routine decreases its internal estimate of how many * bits of "true randomness" are contained in the entropy pool as it * outputs random numbers. * * If this estimate goes to zero, the routine can still generate * random numbers; however, an attacker may (at least in theory) be * able to infer the future output of the generator from prior * outputs. This requires successful cryptanalysis of SHA, which is * not believed to be feasible, but there is a remote possibility. * Nonetheless, these numbers should be useful for the vast majority * of purposes. <--
Perhaps someone on this list with more knowledge of cryptography can explain why using SHA by itself is not sufficient. _______________________________________________ Freenet-dev mailing list Freenet-dev at lists.sourceforge.net http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/freenet-dev
