3 ms·

The benefit is in the PR. Besides that, it's a good demonstration of a "nothing up my sleeve" sort of RNG.

by d-z-m 4y ago

charcircuit 4y ago
The difference in PR whether or not the wall of lava lamps is still hooked up into the RNG is not significant.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 4y ago
  Given the huge infrastructure costs they already maintain, I cannot imagine running a wall of lava lamps is a meaningful expense.
  - charcircuit 4y ago
    There is a difference between just maintaining the wall of lava lamps and maintaining the lava lamps and the entirety of LavaRand. Maintaining the lava lamps is much easier and doesn't have any long lasting maintanence concerns or security concerns compared to the rest of the infrastructure and services for making sure that randomness makes its way into every cloudflare server.
    - d-z-m 4y ago
      There certainly is a difference between keeping LavaRand operational or not. But I would submit that the difference is worth it. I mean c'mon, it's super cool! Also, from a different angle, think about the potential blowback if they were to shut it down... That sounds like a PR nightmare waiting to happen. > making sure that randomness makes its way into every cloudflare server. This does not hinge on LavaRand. The machines' local entropy sources would ensure secure randomness even if LavaRand were compromised.
      - charcircuit 4y ago
        >think about the potential blowback if they were to shut it down... I honestly don't think it would be bad PR. It will just get the lava lamp story in the news cycle again. >This does not hinge on LavaRand. My point is that there is extra services to maintain that offer 0 technical benefit to you.
        d-z-m 4y ago
        > I honestly don't think it would be bad PR. It would be terrible PR, and would re-ignite all the old conspiracy theories regarding Cloudflare. > My point is that there is extra services to maintain that offer 0 technical benefit to you. The benefit isn't zero, LavaRand is a hedge against attacks against the local CSPRNG. More details here: https://blog.cloudflare.com/lavarand-in-production-the-nitty-gritty-technical-details/ https://blog.cloudflare.com/lavarand-in-production-the-nitty...

The benefit is in the PR. Besides that, it's a good demonstration of a "nothing up my sleeve" sort of RNG.

by d-z-m 4y ago

The benefit is in the PR. Besides that, it's a good demonstration of a "nothing up my sleeve" sort of RNG.

charcircuit 4y ago

The difference in PR whether or not the wall of lava lamps is still hooked up into the RNG is not significant.

0cf8612b2e1e 4y ago
Given the huge infrastructure costs they already maintain, I cannot imagine running a wall of lava lamps is a meaningful expense.
- charcircuit 4y ago
  There is a difference between just maintaining the wall of lava lamps and maintaining the lava lamps and the entirety of LavaRand. Maintaining the lava lamps is much easier and doesn't have any long lasting maintanence concerns or security concerns compared to the rest of the infrastructure and services for making sure that randomness makes its way into every cloudflare server.
  - d-z-m 4y ago
    There certainly is a difference between keeping LavaRand operational or not. But I would submit that the difference is worth it. I mean c'mon, it's super cool! Also, from a different angle, think about the potential blowback if they were to shut it down... That sounds like a PR nightmare waiting to happen. > making sure that randomness makes its way into every cloudflare server. This does not hinge on LavaRand. The machines' local entropy sources would ensure secure randomness even if LavaRand were compromised.
    - charcircuit 4y ago
      >think about the potential blowback if they were to shut it down... I honestly don't think it would be bad PR. It will just get the lava lamp story in the news cycle again. >This does not hinge on LavaRand. My point is that there is extra services to maintain that offer 0 technical benefit to you.
      - d-z-m 4y ago
        > I honestly don't think it would be bad PR. It would be terrible PR, and would re-ignite all the old conspiracy theories regarding Cloudflare. > My point is that there is extra services to maintain that offer 0 technical benefit to you. The benefit isn't zero, LavaRand is a hedge against attacks against the local CSPRNG. More details here: https://blog.cloudflare.com/lavarand-in-production-the-nitty-gritty-technical-details/ https://blog.cloudflare.com/lavarand-in-production-the-nitty...