Submitted for the enjoyment of the Zapps Working Group, we present the Powers of Tau 41 video report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4cDAqeEmpU
On Mon, Jan 22, 2018 at 2:53 PM, Andrew Miller <soc1...@illinois.edu> wrote: > Dear Zapps-WG, > Please see below for our writeup about the first *airborne* Powers of > Tau, using a *radioactive artifact from Chernobyl* as the entropy source. > Thanks to Ryan for the exciting take on "toxic waste" and the dedication to > follow through with this all! I recorded a lot of selfie vlogger go-pro > footage of our trip so I'll upload a youtube video as soon as I'm done > editing it all up. > > Cheers, > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Powers of Tau Operational writeup > ================================= > > Round: 41 > Principals: Ryan Pierce and Andrew Miller > Date: 2018-01-20 > Location: North Illinois and Southern Wisconsin > Altitude: 3,000' AMSL / approx. 2200' AGL > Commit version: 9e1553c437183540392a7231d0788318a19b18a3 > SHA256 of ./compute: 922b2e0a59841ecdaba7b4953d8c67 > e62b74b8f52f968624cff664dc086da93a > SHA256 of challenge file: c48fbf0a267ea9a9596c09aaf91f6a > cc18b48430e9239c18de583055b32d503d > > blake2sum of response: > 8a5a9bcb a9c3ab76 c7e3a881 2ccd01e6 > 9af2153b 5d0f9668 9f790493 37de1fb3 > 28873f5f 771adef1 adf0486e 4904b28d > 96fe602c 8866f42e 8047ce3b dafe2f9e > 73c7d2cd 1b0c023d 3831a462 42bd6fc9 > > > Preparation steps > ================= > > As we know, Powers of Tau is all about generating and safely disposing > of cryptographic "toxic waste." So, what better way to generate > entropy than with actual radioactive toxic waste? > > For our contribution, the entropy source was a hardware-based random > number generator utilizing a Geiger tube and a radioactive source, > constructed and programmed by Ryan Pierce. It was based off of the > MightyOhm Geiger Counter kit, available for purchase at > http://mightyohm.com/geiger > > The radioactive source chosen was a very small, low activity sample of > the graphite moderator ejected from the core of the Chernobyl Unit 4 > nuclear reactor during the 1986 explosion and meltdown. The primary > activity of the source comes from the fission products Cs-137 (a gamma > and beta emitter) and Sr-90 (a beta emitter.) Gamma activity at the > surface of the sample container was approx. 0.7 uSv/h, falling > substantially below all thresholds that might restrict its > transportation by air, and posing no health risk. This dose rate is > only a few times the dose rate of normal background radiation. > > The specific Geiger tube used was a Soviet SI-22G that was recovered > from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. This tube is sensitive to gamma and > hard beta radiation. > > Ryan re-wrote the firmware for the kit's ATtiny2313 AVR > microcontroller to act as a random number generator, using the > difference in timing between consecutive pairs of Geiger tube pulses, > measured in microseconds. The idea for this method came from John > Walker, who implemented this in 1996. See > https://www.fourmilab.ch/hotbits/ > > Ryan's source code is available at > https://github.com/RyanPierce/GeigerRNG > > To sanity check the output of the generator, we ran a standard battery > of statistical tests, all of which passed: > > dieharder -a -k2 -Y 1 -f geigersamples.input > > geigersamples.output > > The Geiger input and output files are available via github, above. For > information on dieharder, see > https://webhome.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/General/dieharder.php > > The code is configured to output a stream of 64 bytes of random > entropy, expressed as 128 hex characters, followed by a CRLF, when a > user presses a button on the Geiger counter RNG. The interface is a 6 > pin FTDI header, and it transmits TTL serial data at 9600 baud. A > standard FTDI USB cable connects the Geiger counter RNG to the > laptop. The serial TTY was configured as follows: > > stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 9600 raw > > Pressing the button caused 64 bytes of entropy to be entered into the > computation program, without displaying it to the laptop screen, using > the following command: > > head -c 128 /dev/ttyUSB0 | ./compute > > A picture of the RNG, tube, and source can be seen at > https://twitter.com/RyanPierce_Chi/status/954044819856347137 > > Side channel defenses > ===================== > > Andrew procured a laptop to serve as the compute node, purchased from > a randomly chosen 1 out 4 nearby Walmarts and/or Best Buys. The laptop > purchased was an HP Jaguar 15‑bs060wm, with 8GB of RAM and an Intel > i3-7100U processor (2.4 GHz, 2 cores). The laptop was booted from a > USB drive with Ubuntu 16.04. The hard drives and wifi were disabled in > software, but were *not* removed due to the difficulty in unscrewing > the laptop. > > To reduce the risk of side channel attacks, we performed our > contribution to the ceremony while airborne in Ryan's Piper > Cherokee. Ryan and Andrew were the only occupants in the aircraft. No > mobile phones were powered on during the flight. The only mobile > device in use was an iPad 2, with cellular and WiFi disabled but > Bluetooth and GPS enabled, running ForeFlight electronic flight bag > software. We departed on a VFR flight from Waukegan airport (KUGN), > located in Illinois, near the Wisconsin border. Once we reached 3,000 > feet AMSL, Ryan performed a 360 degree steep turn to assure ourselves > that no aircraft or drones were following us. We set up the Geiger > counter RNG and laptop and began the computation. During this time, we > made occasional random turns, flying over northern Illinois and > southern Wisconsin while remaining outside the O'Hare Class B > airspace, until the compute finished. We observed no suspicious > aircraft attempting to follow us. The total compute time took around > 30 minutes. We then flew to Schaumburg Airport (06C) where we uploaded > the response file at Pilot Pete's restaurant. We made a return flight > to Waukegan later that afternoon. > > Pictures from the trip: > > https://twitter.com/RyanPierce_Chi/status/954776352225398784 > https://twitter.com/RyanPierce_Chi/status/954777461782470656 > https://twitter.com/RyanPierce_Chi/status/954779454961745921 > https://twitter.com/RyanPierce_Chi/status/954854952396050432 > https://twitter.com/RyanPierce_Chi/status/954908555873849344 > https://twitter.com/RyanPierce_Chi/status/954855811951550464 > > We’re also currently producing a short video about our trip, which we > plan to publish to Youtube and notify the zapps-wg mailing list. > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1 > > iQIcBAEBAgAGBQJaZisvAAoJEFvUyhfk+7ICLOYQAIX7+nSe6CRVKFuwkjHYXJyu > Ll5G+X9+Kjrhq0RYXmjix50pEgkpEZhTzKnPxo4tNiiaRc34waKpCAFZpn2Yfpq5 > 8o3R3rTDjYlGcMVyWciipUvbtzxfxrs5GRXknTGhtLvhljZM+fq09O4raPn+oj5Y > tDiFKAO0tKx5wXqlg8diM5AxUfveX6Kov0844ctV+7rP6OYOgCEjqD/o/vM0kVUR > R5wvh7dqY2VHvh7LYAjUSOwbQ4M+3LCw9fK0dAZrXqT9Yn5DquGYKj39QsHJoJ9R > 4uoDb6ltPJuZDCJ0wBKHiyfMr3++UKTDj6dRkHF2OD7aBk4jPZUC6YCC5zgQFPxL > MrBv137EBijmtu4uFfT2YM7SJkKa+AGXnhzsIdFKy5U4Ahqa7meA9sDdAHdOgR9W > RVq9wuO3OnL12Oj53N/PEVtxgmWxHVZfIKP5EPihhSklWC6RU8XVgV4OlfGkkYkA > YyrYNGjSTDI6YXVNXl4uKttzVg965tSt5+83HhuEFepR3+HFgmXz+suYa53J8rxX > njESFI0qV7j7VzLnwthAjV5u0ZAY0y9vOTnMB1nLwVZEKl/g3/WNZhDes9xuyYqV > fAXjVfM2YQ2mQui9U60g0XfSgnO/tnLVG8Fsiv3Jy2yx5baZect8nl3wX6qyWAiM > d/vM2xKNhdf49qfltNQn > =rmAp > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > On Sat, Jan 20, 2018 at 12:08 PM, Miller, Andrew via zapps-wg < > zapps...@lists.z.cash.foundation> wrote: > >> Here's our response, should be done uploading to s3 in a moment. >> 9af2153b5d0f96689f79049337de1fb328873f5f771adef1adf0486e4904 >> b28d96fe602c8866f42e8047ce3bdafe2f9e73c7d2cd1b0c023d3831a46242bd6fc9 >> >> Long story short: >> - Contributor: Ryan Pierce and Andrew Miller >> - Isolation: 3,000 feet above ground in a Piper Cherokee >> - Entropy source: geiger counter and a Chernobyl reactor graphite sample >> Entertaining writeup and video to follow! (Note: all appropriate aviation >> and radiation regulations were followed to a tee) >> >> -- >> Andrew Miller >> University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign >> ________________________________________ >> From: Sean Bowe [s...@z.cash] >> Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2018 10:22 PM >> To: Miller, Andrew >> Cc: Zapps wg >> Subject: Re: [zapps-wg] Powers of Tau >> >> It does interfere with someone, but we could make it work Saturday >> morning if you don't expect it to take longer than the morning. >> >> Sean >> >> On Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 9:18 PM, Andrew Miller via zapps-wg >> <zapps...@lists.z.cash.foundation> wrote: >> > Greetings everyone, >> > I have a good one planned. But it's got a difficult time constraint. >> I >> > need to go this coming Saturday morning. Hopefully it won't interfere >> with >> > the batting order much if I ask for priority! Thanks, >> > > > > -- > Andrew Miller > University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign > -- Andrew Miller University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
