[7306] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: random seed
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sanket Naik)
Wed Jun 14 01:35:55 2000
Message-ID: <3946C6C2.D467E0FB@oblix.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 19:41:54 -0400
From: Sanket Naik <snaik@oblix.com>
Reply-To: snaik@oblix.com
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> > Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 13:13:21 -0800
> > From: Wei Dai <weidai@eskimo.com>
> > To: Jeff.Hodges@Stanford.EDU
> > Cc: cryptography@c2.net
> > Subject: Re: Entropy-gathering gizmos for NT?
> >
> > On Wed, Mar 29, 2000 at 07:54:03AM -0800, Jeff.Hodges@stanford.edu wrote:
> > > I'm curious about what all entropy-gathering gizmos, a la "Entropy Gathering
> > > Deamon" (EGD) <url:http://www.lothar.com/tech/crypto/>, might be available
> > > for/on NT -- anyone know?
> > >
> > > My understanding is that such stuff is effectively built-into Win2K -- anyone
> > > have comments/observations on that?
> >
> > It's built into Microsoft's base CryptoAPI service provider, which is
> > available on Win2K and any Windows OS after Windows 95 I think. You can
> > do something like this:
> >
> > // untested
> > HCRYPTPROV hProvider = 0;
> > BYTE randomBytes[128];
> > CryptAcquireContext(&hProvider, 0, 0, PROV_RSA_FULL, CRYPT_VERIFYCONTEXT);
> > CryptGenRandom(hProvider, sizeof(randomBytes), randomBytes);
does anyone know the source of entropy that for the "internal seed" (as the Windows documentation
for CyrptGenRandom describes it)?
And how good the entropy is?
- sanket
