[Cryptography] TRNGs as open source design semiconductors

[Peter Gutmann]

Ken McCall via cryptography <cryptography at metzdowd.com> writes:

>To my knowledge there are no open source TRNG chips commercially available on
>the market. There are however, discrete component plans available, but not
>widely adopted (http://www.bitbabbler.org/).

There are no discrete chips, but plenty of devices like USB keys built up from
COTS parts.  Just google "open source rng" for examples.

>Also, there was one Crowdsupply failed attempt to create a chip:
>https://www.crowdsupply.com/onchip/open-v/updates/open-true-random-number-generator

They wanted nearly half a million dollars funding to create something that you
can buy now for a few tens of dollars.

The problem isn't that there aren't any available, it's that when it comes to
trying to secure the Internet, a hardware source of random numbers, whether
it's open-source, closed-source, single-chip, discrete-parts, or anything
else, is pretty much irrelevant as a solution.

Peter.