[Thumbgps-devel] time and random numbers

[Thumbgps-devel] time and random numbers

[Dave Taht]

One of my other concerns in life is the lack of quality random numbers
for use in cryptography.

Combining hacker-quality time, localization, and crypto in one device
strikes me as an interesting concept.

I stumbled across this g+ post today:

https://plus.google.com/103765022991433557706/posts/GtJvjruT7ii

Which referenced this:

http://www.entropykey.co.uk/

And this here

http://warmcat.com/_wp/whirlygig-rng/

has gerbers.

-- 
Dave Täht
SKYPE: davetaht
US Tel: 1-239-829-5608
http://www.bufferbloat.net

Re: [Thumbgps-devel] time and random numbers

[Patrick Maupin]

On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Dave Taht <dave.taht@gmail.com> wrote:
> One of my other concerns in life is the lack of quality random numbers
> for use in cryptography.

Worth thinking about.

> http://warmcat.com/_wp/whirlygig-rng/

I'm not sure I would trust something like this unless I was sure the
author understood a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff, and that lots
of experts had then examined it from various aspects.  There's a
growing body of literature on this.  See, e.g.:

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrc/2010/879281/

Having said that, the board I'm envisioning could actually be used for
the quantization stage of random number generation from random events
in time such as alpha decay.

Re: [Thumbgps-devel] time and random numbers

[Ron Frazier (NTP)]

Hi guys,

Steve Gibson, of Gibson Research Corp. knows quite a lot about random 
numbers and cryptography.  His Security Now podcast is very useful.  You 
might find these links and episodes interesting.

https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm
https://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm
http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-299.mp3 - Going Random PT 1
http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-301.mp3 - Going Random PT 2
http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-143.mp3 - Yubikey One Time Password Device

Steve recommends never writing your own crypto.  Even he doesn't do it.  
He recommends using algorithms proven and tested by crypto experts.  The 
failure of WEP encryption, which can now be cracked in under a minute, 
is example of the pitfalls.

Sincerely,

Ron


On 3/10/2012 8:48 PM, Patrick Maupin wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Dave Taht<dave.taht@gmail.com>  wrote:
>    
>> One of my other concerns in life is the lack of quality random numbers
>> for use in cryptography.
>>      
> Worth thinking about.
>
>    
>> http://warmcat.com/_wp/whirlygig-rng/
>>      
> I'm not sure I would trust something like this unless I was sure the
> author understood a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff, and that lots
> of experts had then examined it from various aspects.  There's a
> growing body of literature on this.  See, e.g.:
>
> http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrc/2010/879281/
>
> Having said that, the board I'm envisioning could actually be used for
> the quantization stage of random number generation from random events
> in time such as alpha decay.
>
>    


-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, don't be concerned.
I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy mailing lists and
such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.  If you need a
reply and have not heard from me in 1 - 2 weeks, send your message again.)

Ron Frazier
timekeepingdude AT c3energy.com

Re: [Thumbgps-devel] time and random numbers

[Eric S. Raymond]

Dave Taht <dave.taht@gmail.com>:
> Combining hacker-quality time, localization, and crypto in one device
> strikes me as an interesting concept.

Yes, but beware mission creep!  I'd rather keep the initial goals simple.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>