> On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 4:30 PM, Kurt Knochner <cdowl...@googlemail.com> > wrote: > > yes, that's true. However, it's just a starting point. Do we currently > > know that they have a good distribution? Is there any documented test > > for the quality of the PRNG? > > You can analyze the numbers coming out of /dev/arandom if you like, > but the scheme basically depends on the security of rc4, which is > still widely used. I realize this is proof by assertion, but if you > could decode an rc4 stream, that'd be a big deal.
I am so sad. 8 years after the fact, people still forget that our kernel rc4 stream is cut up among hundreds of consumers. Go ahead, do a FIPS check on it. You will be doing a FIPS check on 4096 bytes here, then a gap of unknown length, then 4096 bytes here, then a gap of unknown length, then 4096 bytes here, then a gap of unknown length, .... After sharing a single pie with 200 people, you are using statistics to claim it had no strawberries on it.
