Security encryption theory

[dgwilliams]

Hi all security experts.

Can someone tell me what entropy means i have read a whole lot of articles and only have a vauge idea of the meaning.

Also why is true randomness important in the generation of strong crytographic keys.

i also heard taht eeliptic curve cryptology is favoured over integer factorization, why is that?

thanks for any help or resources you can give me

 

[theoxyde]

I can't tell you a thing about entropy or eliptical curve algorithms, but I can address the random-number generation issue.

Since a computer is a linear system, it is very hard to produce truly random numbers. Consequently, many computerized random-number generators become fairly easy to predict. If the random numbers seemingly follow any pattern at all, then an attacker can narrow down the entire domain of possible keys into a much smaller domain of potential keys. With this smaller set of keys, the attacker may be able to try all possible keys in a few days, instead of years. The more predictable the generated numbers are, the less work it takes to break the encryption.

 

[dgwilliams]

ok so truely random numbers are harder to crack as there is no pattern for prediction. would i be right by saying that people use atmospheric noise and radiation to calculate truely random numbers.

 

[sleipnir214]

People use measurements of all sorts of physical processes as sources of random numbers:[ul][li]Geiger counters[/li][li]cosmic ray counters[/li][li]the radio noise generated by lightning[/li][li]lava lamps[/li][/ul]

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[theoxyde]

Some use noisy diodes or a user's idle mouse movements as a good seed for pseudo-random numbers.