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New Intel chips use a special bistable circuit to generate random bits in hardware, but many people don't seem to trust it (talk of back doors and such). Frank
by sobellian 10y ago
New Intel chips use a special bistable circuit to generate random bits in hardware, but many people don't seem to trust it (talk of back doors and such).
Frankly, it seems to me that if you're worrying about the intentions of your CPU manufacturer, you're screwed anyway. I guess that I also haven't put that much thought into it though.
- flamedoge 10y agoOnly truly truly dependable with 99.9^ % certainty is to build your own CPU and RNG.
- im3w1l 10y agoMost kinds of CPU misbehavior are detectable: "-Did it add the two numbers correctly? -No it did not" Randomness is different: "-Did it generate a random number? -Well it generated some kind of number...."
- Cyph0n 10y agoYeah, Intel's new design blows everything else out of the water when it comes to throughput, but it consumes more power. I think not trusting a hardware RNG is a valid concern. As a consumer, it might not be a big deal, but what if you're buying CPUs for use in top-secret government machines? Given Intel's interests, it may likely comply with a backdoor request depending on the target. One of the areas I'd like to look into is hardware integrity checking. It's most likely impossible, but it's worth a shot.
- topkekz 10y ago> but many people don't seem to trust it This paper explains how to weaken the intel RNG by modifying only one logic gate and still make it passes the integrity tests. http://sharps.org/wp-content/uploads/BECKER-CHES.pdf http://sharps.org/wp-content/uploads/BECKER-CHES.pdf