Section: Software

HAVEGE

Participant : André Seznec.

Unpredictable random number generator

Contact : André Seznec

Status : Registered with APP Number IDDN.FR.001.500017.001.S.P.2001.000.10000. Available under the LGPL license.

An unpredictable random number generator is a practical approximation of a truly random number generator. Such unpredictable random number generators are needed for cryptography. HAVEGE (HArdware Volatile Entropy Gathering and Expansion) is a user-level software unpredictable random number generator for general-purpose computers that exploits the continuous modifications of the internal volatile hardware states in the processor as a source of uncertainty [12] . HAVEGE combines on-the-fly hardware volatile entropy gathering with pseudo-random number generation.

The internal state of HAVEGE includes thousands of internal volatile hardware states and is merely unmonitorable. HAVEGE can reach an unprecedented throughput for a software unpredictable random number generator: several hundreds of megabits per second on current workstations and PCs.

The throughput of HAVEGE favorably competes with usual pseudo-random number generators such as rand() or random() . While HAVEGE was initially designed for cryptology-like applications, this high throughput makes HAVEGE usable for all application domains demanding high performance and high quality random number generators, e.g., Monte Carlo simulations.

Visit http://www.irisa.fr/alf/HAVEGE or contact André Seznec.