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Random number generation in kernel space was implemented for the first time for Linux [2] in 1994 by Theodore Ts'o. [6] The implementation used secure hashes rather than ciphers, [clarification needed] to avoid cryptography export restrictions that were in place when the generator was originally designed.
A random password generator is a software program or hardware device that takes input from a random or pseudo-random number generator and automatically generates a password. Random passwords can be generated manually, using simple sources of randomness such as dice or coins , or they can be generated using a computer.
The Linux kernel CSPRNG, which uses ChaCha20 to generate data, [12] and BLAKE2s to ingest entropy. [13] arc4random, a CSPRNG in Unix-like systems that seeds from /dev/random. It originally is based on RC4, but all main implementations now use ChaCha20. [14] [15] [16] CryptGenRandom, part of Microsoft's CryptoAPI, offered on Windows. Different ...
The gecos field, or GECOS field, is a field in each record in the /etc/passwd file on Unix and similar operating systems.On UNIX, it is the 5th of 7 fields in a record. It is typically used to record general information about the account or its user(s) such as their real name and phone number.
The security of passwords is therefore protected only by the one-way functions (enciphering or hashing) used for the purpose. Early Unix implementations limited passwords to eight characters and used a 12-bit salt, which allowed for 4,096 possible salt values. [12] This was an appropriate balance for 1970s computational and storage costs. [13]
fortune is predominantly found on Unix-like systems, but clients for other platforms also exist. [3] Often, users on text-mode Unix terminals will place this command into either their .profile or .logout files to display them at logon and logout, respectively. It is also used to generate text input for certain XScreenSaver modes.
passwd is a command on Unix, Plan 9, Inferno, and most Unix-like operating systems used to change a user's password. The password entered by the user is run through a key derivation function to create a hashed version of the new password, which is saved. Only the hashed version is stored; the entered password is not saved for security reasons.
In computing, entropy is the randomness collected by an operating system or application for use in cryptography or other uses that require random data. This randomness is often collected from hardware sources (variance in fan noise or HDD), either pre-existing ones such as mouse movements or specially provided randomness generators.