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1998-10-02 - Re: Randomness testing

Header Data

From: Jim Burnes <jvb@ssds.com>
To: Clifford Heath <cjh@osa.com.au>
Message Hash: dc137edd0b974d272fcc5f488c5296cb93d297571dbb3cd98256bca65cad7aa8
Message ID: <Pine.LNX.3.96.981002073405.1244C-100000@jb3.fastrans.net>
Reply To: <m0zOxtY-0001eoC@magpie.osa.com.au>
UTC Datetime: 1998-10-02 00:53:46 UTC
Raw Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 08:53:46 +0800

Raw message

From: Jim Burnes <jvb@ssds.com>
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 08:53:46 +0800
To: Clifford Heath <cjh@osa.com.au>
Subject: Re: Randomness testing
In-Reply-To: <m0zOxtY-0001eoC@magpie.osa.com.au>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.96.981002073405.1244C-100000@jb3.fastrans.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



On Fri, 2 Oct 1998, Clifford Heath wrote:

> We have been asked by a customer if we have any tests that demonstrate 
> the randomness of the SSLeay random number generator (augmented by some
> sound-card random number seeding that we wrote).
> 
> I'd like to find some standard implementation for testing randomness, but 
> Schneier offers no help (other than a reference to Knuth Vol 2), and I
> don't know where else to turn.
> 
> I realise that cryptographic randomness requires unpredictability, and
> this quality depends upon closed-world assumptions about unknown individuals'
> predictive powers, but we have to live with that.
> 

You mean you don't have a copy of Knuth, Vol 2.  For shame!

I'm too lazy to look it up for you, but I believe the two tests
are called the Run test and the Chi-square method.

(trying to remember from my own dusty compSci memories)

jim

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