3 ms·

https://blog.cloudflare.com/lavarand-in-production-the-nitty-gritty-technical-details/ https://blog.cloudflare.com/lavarand-in-production-the-nitty... Sensor n

by Osiris 5y ago

https://blog.cloudflare.com/lavarand-in-production-the-nitty-gritty-technical-details/ https://blog.cloudflare.com/lavarand-in-production-the-nitty... Sensor noise absolutely part of it but if that were the only source then pointing the camera at a fixed image would be fine. In this case, the combination of the randomness of the lamps plus that of the sensors noise makes it more difficult for an attacker (just taking a picture of the same lamps at the same time won't be enough).

ncmncm 5y ago
Pointing the camera at a fixed image would, in fact, be fine. The lava lamp is just for publicity. Any old camera attached to any old gadget provides more truly random bits than you will ever need, no matter where it is pointed, or isn't. A microphone, likewise. A radio receiver, likewise. People rolling dice to get random numbers is the height of silliness. Using a specially built gadget is about equally silly: you never know if you built it right. AMD shipped microprocessors with a "true random number generator" device, and instruction to access it, that gave wholly non-random numbers. They had to distribute a microcode patch for that, demonstrating that microcode is able to deny you those supposedly truly-random bits any time the spooks like.