Stronger Cryptography For Every Device, Everywhere

TL;DR

This paper introduces a universal method for devices of all sizes to reliably generate secure random numbers by leveraging side channel measurements of CPU operations, enhancing cryptographic security.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach enabling any CPU-powered device to collect abundant entropy through side channel analysis, improving secure random number generation.

Findings

Effective entropy collection across diverse devices

Enhanced security against cryptographic vulnerabilities

Practical implementation of side channel-based entropy gathering

Abstract

Generating secure random numbers is a central problem in cryptography that needs a reliable source of enough computing entropy. Without enough entropy available - meaning no good source of secure random numbers - a device is susceptible to cryptographic protocol failures such as weak, factorable, or predictable keys, which lead to various security and privacy vulnerabilities. In this paper, the author presents a significant improvement: a reliable way for any CPU-powered device - from the small, simple CPUs in embedded devices, to larger, more complex CPUs in modern servers - to collect virtually unlimited entropy through side channel measurements of trivial CPU operations, making the generation of secure random numbers an easy, safe, and reliable operation.