Hardware-originated Entropy
Modern CPUs and hardware often feature integrated generators that can provide high-quality and high-speed entropy to operating systems. On systems based on the Linux kernel, one can read the entropy generated from such a device through /dev/hw_random. However, sometimes /dev/hw_random may be slow; usually around 80 KiB/s.
There are some companies manufacturing entropy generation devices, and some of them are shipped with drivers for Linux.
On Debian, one can install the rng-tools package (apt-get install rng-tools) that supports the true random number generators (TRNGs) found in some Intel, AMD, or VIA chipsets, effectively increasing the entropy collected into /dev/random and potentially improving the cryptographic potential. This is especially useful on headless systems that have no other sources of entropy.
Read more about this topic: Entropy (computing)
Famous quotes containing the word entropy:
“Just as the constant increase of entropy is the basic law of the universe, so it is the basic law of life to be ever more highly structured and to struggle against entropy.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)