Random numbers and virtual-machine forks

Posted Mar 14, 2022 20:19 UTC (Mon) by wittenberg (subscriber, #4473)
In reply to: Random numbers and virtual-machine forks by ballombe
Parent article: Random numbers and virtual-machine forks

1/ ideal RNG: each bit is an independent random variable. We have no way to build that.

We do. You can buy off-the-shelf random number generators which depend on quantum processes for their randomness. The first google hit for one is: https://www.quintessencelabs.com/products/qstream-quantum... which claims to offer 1 Gb/sec (after whitening, 8 Gb/sec before whitening). If quantum processes are not random, we have a huge hole in our understanding of the physics which underlies chips. Possible, but unlikely.

I don't know about this particular device, but last I checked, similar devices cost about $5000 (US).

--David