E VIA C3 N R N G

Short Description
Cryptography Research has evaluated the C3 Nehemiah random number … Cryptography Research provided no Nehemiah design assistance to VIA Technologies or …

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Content
. 2003 by Cryptography Research, Inc.
EVALUATION OF
VIA C3 NEHEMIAH
RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR
PREPARED BY
Cryptography Research, Inc.
607 Market St., 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 397-0123
Last Revision: February 27, 2003
Information in this white paper is provided without guarantee or warranty of any
kind. This review was performed for VIA Technologies, Inc. but represents the
findings and opinions of Cryptography Research, Inc. and may or may not reflect
opinions of VIA Technologies, Inc. or Centaur Technology. Characteristics of the
C3 Nehemiah may vary with design or implementation changes.VIA C3 NEHEMIAH RNG EVALUATION
FEBRUARY 27, 2003 CRYPTOGRAPHY RESEARCH, INC. PAGE 2 OF 41
Contents
1. Introduction _________________________________________________ 4
2. Background__________________________________________________ 4
2.1. Applications Requiring Randomness ______________________________________ 4
2.2. Sources of Randomness__________________________________________________ 5
3. Design Overview______________________________________________ 7
3.1. Entropy Source ________________________________________________________ 7
3.2. Digital Hardware and Firmware _________________________________________ 10
4. Entropy Analysis ____________________________________________ 11
4.1. Background on Entropy ________________________________________________ 11
4.2. Tools and Approaches__________________________________________________ 12
4.3. Aspects Studied _______________________________________________________ 13
4.4. Results ______________________________________________________________ 14
4.4.1. Normal Operation ________________________________________________________ 14
4.4.2. Startup Behavior _________________________________________________________ 21
4.4.3. Temperature_____________________________________________________________ 22
4.4.4. Processor Activity ________________________________________________________ 23
4.4.5. Modeled Operation _______________________________________________________ 23
4.4.6. Results from Centaur Technologies Testing ____________________________________ 24
4.5. Source Whitening: Extrapolating Test Results _____________________________ 25
4.6. Entropy Conclusions ___________________________________________________ 28
5. Usage Recommendations ______________________________________ 29
5.1. Usage Modes _________________________________________________________ 29
5.2. Feeding an Entropy Pool with the Nehemiah RNG __________________________ 30…