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Ultra-low-cost True Randomness

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the and-a-damn-fine-hack dept.

Cryptocrat writes "Today I blogged about a new method for secure random sequence generation that is based on physical properties of hardware, but requires only hardware found on most computer systems: from standard PCs to RFID tags." Basically he's powercycling memory and looking at the default state of the bits, which surprisingly (to me anyway) is able to both to fingerprint systems, as well as generate a true random number. There also is a PDF Paper on the subject if you're interested in the concept.

3 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Our research group will answer questions soon... by fubob · · Score: 5, Informative

    We were surprised to suddenly get attention to this paper, but apparently Slashdot readers are watching the security seminar at UMass Amhest.

    Anyhow, we will be answering questions in this thread. So if you have any questions, post them here and Dan Holcomb will get back to you as soon as he can.

    Cheers,
    -Kevin Fu

  2. Re:Four by ukatoton · · Score: 5, Informative
    RTFA
    There are 3 states the bits can fall into:

    1. initially (almost) always 0
    2. initially 0 or 1 with somewhat even probability
    3. initially (almost) always 1

    Using the bits that fall into category 2 to generate the number will result in a random number, as these are known to change randomly

    since it is now known which bits will change with each power cycle, those bits can be used as a source of true randomness


    Bits falling into the other two states are ignored for the random function and are used for the identification function.
  3. Old news - I have already been granted patents by ironring · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is a bit of old news. I have already authored and been granted several patents in this area.
    6,906,962 Method for defining the initial state of static random access memory
    6,828,561 Apparatus and method for detecting alpha particles
    6,738,294 Electronic fingerprinting of semiconductor integrated circuits
    I have several other ideas for application of this technology and would be happy to discuss if someone is interested.
    Paul