The history of ERNIE 1 through ERNIE 5 is fascinating, but you have to wonder about the practicality of using a hardware RNG for all your randomness today, even if “quantum”. A properly built fast-key erasure CSPRNG, initially seeded with a true random seed of course, is generally preferred over a HWRNG for high quality randomness. The Linux RNG uses a ChaCha20 fast-key erasure setup, and its performance is respectable:
Does anyone know about the legal standing of random number generators with regards to lotteries (which the Premium Bonds were)? Maybe they have to be hardware-random because of statute.
I seem to remember the Nevada Gambling Comission getting pretty technical when it came to slot machines.
The history of ERNIE 1 through ERNIE 5 is fascinating, but you have to wonder about the practicality of using a hardware RNG for all your randomness today, even if “quantum”. A properly built fast-key erasure CSPRNG, initially seeded with a true random seed of course, is generally preferred over a HWRNG for high quality randomness. The Linux RNG uses a ChaCha20 fast-key erasure setup, and its performance is respectable:
Does anyone know about the legal standing of random number generators with regards to lotteries (which the Premium Bonds were)? Maybe they have to be hardware-random because of statute.
I seem to remember the Nevada Gambling Comission getting pretty technical when it came to slot machines.
I made a Freedom of Information Request to the Government Actuary’s Department in the U.K. I’ll report back with their response.