| RNDTEST(4) | Device Drivers Manual | RNDTEST(4) |
rndtest — FIPS
140-2 random number generator test monitor
device rndtest
The rndtest driver “hooks
up” to hardware crypto devices to monitor the entropy data passed to
the random(4) subsystem. This data is periodically tested
for FIPS 140-2 compliance and statistics are collected. If the harvested
entropy fails any of the FIPS test suite, then it is discarded and testing
is continuously applied until “good data” is received from the
device. Failures are optionally reported on the console.
The idea for this and the original code came from
Jason L. Wright. The rndtest
device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 5.0.
Crypto device drivers must be compiled specially to make use of this driver; this should not be necessary. This feature might better be integrated into the random(4) subsystem where it can be applied to devices that claim to supply “pure entropy”.
| March 11, 2003 | Debian |