[Cryptech Tech] RAM as source of entropy

[Patrik Wallstrom]

On Thu, 06 Feb 2014, Warren Kumari wrote:

> This sounds very similar to the "CCD in total darkness" ideas...
> Last I'd heard, apart from some cells that like to bias in one or the
> other direction (imperfections, internally generated heat from nearby
> A/D, etc) it was basically a quantum phenomenon. This is why there has
> been so much (unsuccessful) research into removing noise from CCD
> imagers.
> This also seems like it would generate much higher (after some removal
> of known sticky bits / whitening) rates.
> There were a bunch of papers on this (which I can try dig up again),
> but LavaRnd (different to LavaRAnd!) was one of the projects that did
> something like this -- place a USB webcam (the cheaper the better!) in
> a lightproof container (I used a coffee tin with a small hole for the
> cable, which I then filled with epoxy), crank the gain all the way up,
> and read randomness.

Not sure if this adds anything useful, but it seems that radiation can
do some interesting things,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJcOq5sLxPo