[Cryptography] The Crypto Pi

Ralf Senderek crypto at senderek.ie
Tue Jan 13 02:14:43 EST 2015


On Mon Jan 12 2015 John Ioannidis wrote:

> There does not appear to be anything Pi-specific about this. Am I missing
> something?
> 
> /ji

No, you don't. In fact, the core software of the Crypto Pi project will run
on different hardware and (maybe) run on top of any *nix platform that provides
some basic tools. In its current version it uses a fraction of the functionality
of /usr/bin/gpg (AES) and reads 20 Bytes of /dev/random to get 160 bit of
"unpredictability" for each message sent. It is essential not to tie the Crypto
Pi to a specific pre-condition unless there is a reason for it.

That brings me back to my original question: Is it (in any sense) more secure
to avoid reading key material from /dev/random and use the hardware RNG
instead or in addition?

Does the rPI use its specific capabilities to enhance /dev/random?

     --Ralf


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