From 60baad74d6e38aeb76e6b87d1c8cfcaee6f3a87e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Petter Reinholdtsen Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2017 20:55:09 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Generated. --- ...limited_randomness_with_the_ChaosKey_.html | 483 ++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 483 insertions(+) create mode 100644 blog/Unlimited_randomness_with_the_ChaosKey_.html diff --git a/blog/Unlimited_randomness_with_the_ChaosKey_.html b/blog/Unlimited_randomness_with_the_ChaosKey_.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..a960b57045 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/Unlimited_randomness_with_the_ChaosKey_.html @@ -0,0 +1,483 @@ + + + + + Petter Reinholdtsen: Unlimited randomness with the ChaosKey? + + + + + + +
+

+ Petter Reinholdtsen + +

+ +
+ + +
+
Unlimited randomness with the ChaosKey?
+
1st March 2017
+

A few days ago I ordered a small batch of +the ChaosKey, a small +USB dongle for generating entropy created by Bdale Garbee and Keith +Packard. Yesterday it arrived, and I am very happy to report that it +work great! According to its designers, to get it to work out of the +box, you need the Linux kernel version 4.1 or later. I tested on a +Debian Stretch machine (kernel version 4.9), and there it worked just +fine, increasing the available entropy very quickly. I wrote a small +test oneliner to test. It first print the current entropy level, +drain /dev/random, and then print the entropy level for five seconds. +Here is the situation without the ChaosKey inserted:

+ +
+% cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \
+  dd bs=1M if=/dev/random of=/dev/null count=1; \
+  for n in $(seq 1 5); do \
+     cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \
+     sleep 1; \
+  done
+300
+0+1 oppføringer inn
+0+1 oppføringer ut
+28 byte kopiert, 0,000264565 s, 106 kB/s
+4
+8
+12
+17
+21
+%
+
+ +

The entropy level increases by 3-4 every second. In such case any +application requiring random bits (like a HTTPS enabled web server) +will halt and wait for more entrpy. And here is the situation with +the ChaosKey inserted:

+ +
+% cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \
+  dd bs=1M if=/dev/random of=/dev/null count=1; \
+  for n in $(seq 1 5); do \
+     cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \
+     sleep 1; \
+  done
+1079
+0+1 oppføringer inn
+0+1 oppføringer ut
+104 byte kopiert, 0,000487647 s, 213 kB/s
+433
+1028
+1031
+1035
+1038
+%
+
+ +

Quite the difference. :) I bought a few more than I need, in case +someone want to buy one her in Norway. :)

+
+ +
Tags: debian, english.
+ + +
+ + + + + +

+ Created by Chronicle v4.6 +

+ + + -- 2.47.2