True Random Number Generator Goes Online

HelloWorld · #1 (**permalink**) 07-25-2007, 02:12 PM

Quote:

True Random Number Generator Goes Online
PressEsc.com (07/18/07) Panditaratne, Vidura

Academics and members of the scientific community will not be able to accurately predict the next number that comes out of the Quantum Random Bit Generator Service (QRBGS). The QRBGS is unlike the random number generators of most computers, which employ different algorithms to choose a number from large databases that use methods such as rolling the dice to compile their numbers. Such random number generators deliver essentially pseudo-random numbers, but QRBGS uses photon emission, the unpredictable quantum process, to produce true random numbers. QRBGS makes use of a fast non-deterministic random bit generator, and its random quality comes from the quantum physical process of photonic emission in semiconductors, followed by detection from the photoelectric effect. Developed by computer scientists at the Ruder Boskovic Institute (RBI) in Zagreb, Croatia, QRBGS has been made available online, connected by computer clusters and GRID networks, free of charge. Potential applications include advanced scientific simulations, cryptographic data protection, security applications, and virtual entertainment.

Source: ACM TechNews
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Is there really "TRUE" Random numbers?

sigh...

TeraTask · #2 (**permalink**) 07-25-2007, 03:25 PM

Let's assume it is random. That's all well and good, but let me tell you how to hack it:

1) Publish "free" random numbers online using the method.
2) Log all such freely-given random numbers.
3) Give them to the Federal Govt as is probably required under some secret document issued by the CIA which we'll be told doesn't exist, but which our children will find out always has existed.
4) Let some hacker get access to the data stored on some moron's computer and publish it online. This could happen w/o step 3, but in the govt's hands is FAR more likely to occur.

Easy enough, eh?

Personally, I refuse to believe that an ordered process can result in unordered results (though, they may appear unordered as do pseudo-random numbers). Yes, entropy is out there, but I'm confident that it's much more orderly than we currently understand.

I checked out their paper and it states that the "randomness relies on intrinsic randomness of the quantum physical processes of photonic emission in semiconductors and subsequent detection by the photoelectric effect." Has this been proven to be random or is that only a postulation?

molotov · #3 (**permalink**) 07-30-2007, 03:47 PM

I love how they're sending 'true random' over the internet.

'True random' can only be sampled, it cannot be generated, as TeraTask seemed to hint at with the comment about ordered systems producing unordered results. The cheapest, most cost effective way for the average user to have a sample of random data is to buy a sensitive microphone and record noise from a room with an oscillating fan blowing. Some magic applied to the variances in sound and voltage and you'll have a 'random-enough' generator.

(Yes, the fan is oscillating. No, the random noise isn't coming from the fan directly. The fan just keeps the air in the room moving across the transducer in the microphone, which is wear the noise comes from.)

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