Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
These approaches combine a pseudo-random number generator (often in the form of a block or stream cipher) with an external source of randomness (e.g., mouse movements, delay between keyboard presses etc.). /dev/random – Unix-like systems; CryptGenRandom – Microsoft Windows; Fortuna
When the maximum number of bits output from this PRNG is equal to the 2 blocksize, the resulting output delivers the mathematically expected security level that the key size would be expected to generate, but the output is shown to not be indistinguishable from a true random number generator. [24] When the maximum number of bits output from ...
Lavarand, also known as the Wall of Entropy, is a hardware random number generator designed by Silicon Graphics that worked by taking pictures of the patterns made by the floating material in lava lamps, extracting random data from the pictures, and using the result to seed a pseudorandom number generator.
Dice are an example of a mechanical hardware random number generator. When a cubical die is rolled, a random number from 1 to 6 is obtained. Random number generation is a process by which, often by means of a random number generator (RNG), a sequence of numbers or symbols is generated that cannot be reasonably predicted better than by random chance.
If one has a pseudo-random number generator whose output is "sufficiently difficult" to predict, one can generate true random numbers to use as the initial value (i.e., the seed), and then use the pseudo-random number generator to produce numbers for use in cryptographic applications.
Random numbers are frequently used in algorithms such as Knuth's 1964-developed algorithm [1] for shuffling lists. (popularly known as the Knuth shuffle or the Fisher–Yates shuffle, based on work they did in 1938). In 1999, a new feature was added to the Pentium III: a hardware-based random number generator.
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.
An MWC generator is a special form of Lehmer random number generator = which allows efficient implementation of a prime modulus much larger than the machine word size. Normal Lehmer generator implementations choose a modulus close to the machine word size.