Hardware Random Number Generator - Problems

Problems

It is very easy to misconstruct hardware or software devices which attempt to generate random numbers. Also, most 'break' silently, often producing decreasingly random numbers as they degrade. A physical example might be the rapidly decreasing radioactivity of the smoke detectors mentioned earlier. Failure modes in such devices are plentiful and are complicated, slow, and hard to detect.

Because many entropy sources are often quite fragile, and fail silently, statistical tests on their output should be performed continuously. Many, but not all, such devices include some such tests into the software that reads the device.

Just as with other components of a cryptosystem, a software random number generator should be designed to resist certain attacks. Defending against these attacks is difficult. See: random number generator attack.