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From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein)
Newsgroups: net.crypt
Subject: Re: Why no hardware random numbers?
Message-ID: <597@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 12-Mar-85 19:41:36 EST
Article-I.D.: vortex.597
Posted: Tue Mar 12 19:41:36 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 17-Mar-85 01:03:53 EST
References: <868@utcsri.UUCP>
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 10

People who are REALLY concerned about security have ways of generating
random numbers via hardware.  That's how the coding sequences for
"one time pads" (the most secure encoding system) are generated.

There are a number of ways to design the hardware, but one of the best
is to use the decay rate of a radioactive element (that is, count and
time the geiger ticks) and use that as the "random" source.  This is
supposed to be one of the most random events known.

--Lauren--