diff --git a/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2013-07-2013-09.xml b/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2013-07-2013-09.xml index 9ed43ccf90..466909fb80 100644 --- a/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2013-07-2013-09.xml +++ b/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2013-07-2013-09.xml @@ -949,7 +949,7 @@ - Updating <tt>random(4)</tt> + Reworking <tt>random(4)</tt> @@ -978,16 +978,55 @@ -

Update of random(4) to account for recent revelations, - and make more extensible, is in progress.

+

Random numbers require a lot more thought and preparation that + would naively appear to be the case. For simulations, number + sequences that are repeatable but sufficiently disordered are + often what is required to achieve required experimental + duplication ability, and many programmers are familiar with + these. For cryptography, it is essential that an attacker not + be able to predict or guess the output sequence, thus giving a + source of security-critical secret material for uses such as + passwords or "key material".

+ +

&os;'s random number generator, available as the pseudo-file + /dev/random produces unpredictable numbers intended for + cryptographic use, and is thus a Cryptograpically-Secured + Pseudo-Random Number Generator, or CSPRNG. The security is + given by careful design of the output generator (based on a + block cipher) and input entropy accumulation queues. The latter + uses hashes to accumulate stochastic information harvested from + various places in the kernel to provide highly unpredictable + input to the generator. The algorithm for doing this, Yarrow, + by Schneier et al, may be found by web search.

+ +

&os;'s CSPRNG also allowed for certain stochastic sources, + deemed to be "high-quality", to directly supply the + random(4) device without going through Yarrow. With + recent revelations over possible government surveillance and + involvement in the selection of these "high-quality" sources, it + is felt that they can no longer be trusted, and must therefore + also be processed though Yarrow.

+ +

The matter was discussed at various levels of formality at the + Cambridge Developer Summit in August, and at EuroBSDcon 2013 in + September.

+ +

This work is now done, and the random(4) CSPRNG is now + brought to a more paranoid, modern standard of distrust with + regard to its entropy sources. Infrastructure work was also + done to facilitate certain entropy-source choices for the + convenience of the system administrators.

+ +

Future work is now going ahead with the implementation of the + Fortuna algorithm by Ferguson and Schneier as an upgrade or + alternative to Yarrow. Initially a choice will be presented, + and decisions on the future of the CSPRNG processing algorithms + in use will be made in the future as needs arise.

- Fortuna is to be an alternative for Yarrow in FreeBSD 11.x. - Yarrow may be deprecated in a couple of years. - FIPS 800-90b support is planned. - A full, in-depth review of entropy is going to be done with - external help. + Implement FIPS 800-90b support. + A full, in-depth review of entropy.