Re: Why does reading from /dev/urandom deplete entropy so much?

[Bill Davidsen]

Adrian Bunk wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 06, 2007 at 02:32:05PM -0500, Bill Davidsen wrote:
>   
> > ...
> > Sounds like a local DoS attack point to me...
> >     
>
> As long as /dev/random is readable for all users there's no reason to 
> use /dev/urandom for a local DoS...
>   

The original point was that urandom draws entropy from random, and that 
it is an an inobvious and unintentional drain on the entropy pool. At 
least that's how I read it. I certainly have programs which draw on 
urandom simply because it's a convenient source of meaningless data. I 
have several fewer since this discussion started, though, now that I 
have looked at the easy alternatives.

--
Bill Davidsen <davidsen@xxxxxxx>
 "Woe unto the statesman who makes war without a reason that will still
 be valid when the war is over..." Otto von Bismark 


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