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Welcome to Randomness for cryptography

Randomness is everywhere, but collecting it properly has many pitfalls.

About this site This site is intended to be a resource for documentation and discussion of methods for creating random and unpredictable data for cryptography. It is starting off as a "private" Wiki on the Shoutwiki service, with editing accounts by invitation only at first. You will need to sign up for a ShoutWiki account first in any case. All information is provided on an "as is" basis, and represents the personal opinions of the authors who submitted it, without any warrantee or claim of fitness for a purpose. Furthermore, this Wiki is currently (October 2014) in the early stage of construction and has gaping holes and much tentative content. If you need any help, please leave a message on my discussion page User talk:Arnold Reinhold, or, as a last resort, contact ShoutWiki's Customer Support Team.

Major topics Randomness and cryptography overview Threat and trust models Random number generation strategies Random number generation standards Sources of randomness Mixing and whitening algorithms Use cases for random numbers Legal issues Best practices Glossary

Did you know... Poor randomness has defeated many cryptographic systems? See Random number generator attack on Wikipedia. Until a suitable community develops, Arnold G. Reinhold is the owner and czar of this site and may sometimes write in first person. Currently the site is not open to the public to edit. Arnold (I) plans to grant editing privileges on an individual basis. You will first have to create an account and pick a user name at ShoutWiki.com. Then send me email. Use my 3 initials and the domain that Apple provides to its customers. I don't have the time or energy to develop a complete set of rules for this site. I expect behavior that approximates the Wikipedia ideal of civil collaboration among people who may disagree. One Wikipedia that does not apply entirely: original research (OR) is welcome if it is of good quality and clearly marked as OR. What you post may be critiqued by others, or even deleted at my sole discretion. Note that any content posted on this Wiki is thereby released under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA and by posting here you agree to such release and assert that you have the necessary rights to do so. See ShoutWiki's Terms of Use for more details.

News This wiki was started on February 27, 2014 by User:Arnold Reinhold. It is hosted by ShoutWiki.com using Mediawiki software, the same software that powers Wikipedia, though this Wiki has no connection to Wikipedia. The recommended size for Diceware(tm) passwords has been upped from 5 to 6 words due to the ever decreasing cost to crack passwords. See http://diceware.blogspot.com for more details