hi,


> You probably know this if you use it, but
> /dev/random is the most
> "random" one, as it always uses system entropy,
> rather than falling
> back on an algorithm to generate more bits than are
> available in
> the pool. 

Its always better to choose an algorithm because it
has *known* properties-such as period of the
generator,whether it passes the die hard test and so
on.Once we know it  by using a one way function we can
say with some confidence that the generated output has
good random properties.

Regards Sarath.

Using the output to seed MD5 for the next block
exposes that part of 
the
state of the RNG.  Might be better to use half the MD5
output as seed 
for the
next block, and the other half as output data.

* Your RNG takes input from an attackable source.  I
can significantly 
reduce
the entropy of your system by placing a transmitter
near your machine 
(even if

-J

Since you only need 8 bytes of random seed
> (and if you
> don't need to generate many OTPs at a time...) it
> might be worth
> using it instead.
> Can't help you on the entropy quality though.
> 
> -- 
> Vincent Penquerc'h 
> 


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