Sources of entropy

In our discussion of seeding a random number generator, we mentioned the need to find entropy or "genuine randomness" as the seed starting point for generating other random numbers. Some typical sources that in principle we may be able to access in software include:

Now, an obvious problem with all of these sources is that (a) whether they're available, (b) how easily they can be obtained in software, and (c) how many bits of genuine randomness they give, could vary hugely from machine to machine. Some of these sources are especially useful on busy, multi-user systems. Others require specific hardware to be present and require the software to have privileges that in reality will not be available unless the user makes special dispensation.

Using SecureRandom and OS-provided entropy

In practice, the modern operating systems help us solve the problem of obtaining entropy. The OS generally "knows" where it can collect entropy from, and provides an API call or some other form of access to this entropy. In Java, the SecureRandom class acts as a wrapper to this OS-provided entropy:

Entropy sources on Windows and Linux

In practice, current implementations of Windows and Linux derive their entropy from the following sources:

 WindowsLinux
Software interface CryptGenRandom() API call Direct read from /dev/random
Main entropy sources
  • Time (wall-clock and since boot)
  • Performance and CPU counter data
  • Timings of context switches and other software interrupts
Timings in milliseconds and additional, sometimes limited, data from:
  • Key events (timing and key code)
  • Mouse events (movement start/end, scroll direction, button press/release)
  • Completion of I/O operations on disk/block devices
  • IRQs
Reference Writing Secure Code, Second Edition, Chapter 8 Gutterman, Pinkas & Reinman (2006), Analysis of the Linux Random Number Generator

Next...

In our discussion of seeding random number generators, we look at the SecureRandom.generateSeed() call, which provides access to the underlying OS entropy source.

On the next page, we look at the SecureRandom class for random number generation, and typical cases of when to use it.


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