
Ask HN: Why don't all computers use atmospheric noise for random numbers? - jlward4th
Info on atmospheric noise:
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Atmospheric_noise
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SamReidHughes
Having a radio antenna feeding information into the computer has its own
negative security implications.

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quickthrower2
Hold on, what of wifi and Bluetooth?

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SamReidHughes
In a highly secure environment you don't use WiFi or Bluetooth.

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quickthrower2
The OP is talking about random numbers in general I believe, not in highly
secure environments only.

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SamReidHughes
Sure. I think Intel's RDRAND, using thermal noise (or whatever) makes more
sense, because you don't have to hook up some antenna -- I'm no physicist but
my guess is it gets substantively affected by atmospheric noise.

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quickthrower2
Because pseudo random is good for most purposes, and there is enough chaos in
the machine to seed cryptographic random numbers. So why add extra
manufacturing cost.

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MH15
Probably because interference (intentional or otherwise) at similar
wavelengths could seriously skew the "random" numbers. This obviously isn't
good.

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WilliamEdward
Apparently they already do this though

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_number_generation#%22Tr...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_number_generation#%22True%22_vs._pseudo-
random_numbers)

