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Article #7Re: Gathering entropy for PRNGs on MVS
From: Andrew Swallow
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 16:38
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 16:38
37 lines
3045 bytes
3045 bytes
"Duke Arber" <duke_arber@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:b4ieak$2qn$1@slb9.atl.mindspring.net... > I'm working on porting a cryptographic library to IBM's MVS (aka. OS/390 and > z/OS) operating system. One of the tasks is gathering data with sufficient > entropy for seeding the libraries PRNG (Pseudo Random Number Generator). It > requires about 1-4K of data. > > The programs using the library are running in a non-authorized state (not > APF authorized). This requirement has made it difficult to find any data > from within the address space that has sufficient entropy. A non-authorized > address space does not have access to any system-wide counters. > > The address spaces will be started at system boot time (IPL time) and on > request throughout the life of an IPL. Please keep in mind that the IPL > sequence is the same every time and often MVS systems have an IPL schedule > to accommodate testing periods (e.g. IPL occurs every Sunday at 3:00 AM). > > Does anyone know of data sources on MVS available to non-authorized programs > with sufficient entropy for seeding PRNGs? > > Thanks in advance. > How accurately can you measure time? Read the time and date. Reschedule so the operating system runs and read the time when you are reactivated. The entropy comes from the run time of the other programs and the date. You may be able to play games with the disks and operator reply times. Andrew Swallow
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X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fd4af,4336d2c2bccbde14 X-Google-Attributes: gidfd4af,public X-Google-Thread: fb57f,4336d2c2bccbde14 X-Google-Attributes: gidfb57f,public X-Google-Thread: fed83,4336d2c2bccbde14 X-Google-Attributes: gidfed83,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-03-10 08:39:02 PST Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!newsfeed.freenet.de!newsfeed.stueberl.de!newsr1.ipcore.viaginterkom.de!btnet-peer1!btnet-peer0!btnet-feed5!btnet!news.btopenworld.com!not-for-mail From: "Andrew Swallow" <am.swallow@eatspam.btinternet.com> Newsgroups: sci.crypt.random-numbers,bit.listserv.ibm-main,sci.crypt Subject: Re: Gathering entropy for PRNGs on MVS Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 16:38:02 +0000 (UTC) Organization: BT Openworld Lines: 38 Message-ID: <b4if1a$jte$1@helle.btinternet.com> References: <b4ieak$2qn$1@slb9.atl.mindspring.net> Reply-To: "Andrew Swallow" <am.swallow@btinternet.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: host81-132-22-83.in-addr.btopenworld.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: helle.btinternet.com 1047314282 20398 81.132.22.83 (10 Mar 2003 16:38:02 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news-complaints@lists.btinternet.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 16:38:02 +0000 (UTC) X-Priority: 3 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1123 X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1123 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal