On Tue, Feb 18, 2003 at 10:32:15PM -0300, Felix Cuello wrote: > Think about that... if you have enough entropy to do good keys, suppose > that not any longer than 1024 bits. Whatīs happened if you want to > generate a key with 2048 bits length when entropy is out?? Well, an > algorithm do the job to generate pseudorandom numbers. (In case that > /dev/random or /dev/urandom doesnīt stop, because I donīt remember now but > any of this devices stops when entropy is out)
/dev/urandom on linux and openbsd will not block; they just print hashed versions of what is in the entropy pool. /dev/random on linux, and /dev/srandom on openbsd will block until entropy is available. > Then... I start again with my first question. thereīs a good way to > generate entropy??? [Suppose that the machine who generates the key will > not have much interrupts because anybody are in front of the keyboard to > generate it] Robert M Love has put together some patches for the Linux kernel to add network interfaces to the device drivers that generate entropy for the random pool: http://www.tech9.net/rml/linux/ Note that this is of debatable value; since network traffic may be seen or even controlled by attackers, it may or may not add real entropy to the pool. You need to decide for yourself if this is a concern. Cheers -- Join the fight against terrorism by giving up your liberties today!
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