Re: Good random number source in oracle

Using milliseconds would mean that a cracker just has to run through 1000 possible permutations. Squaring the number would still mean 1000 permutations. In my view true randomness cannot exist withing a computer as the systems are rule-based.

A thought: try downloading files from SETI_at_home and sequences out of that, as cosmic background noise *is* random, unless you've had the misfortune to land on an ETI signal...

"Steve Long" <steven.long_at_erols.com> wrote in message news:9c1pv3$2au$1_at_bob.news.rcn.net...
> if you are using sysdate, recall that sysdate gets down to
> milliseconds...what is the likelyhood that anyone would know the precise
> value of time wrt milliseconds when the function actually received a value
> from the system clock? you can use the low end of the systdate squared
 and
> then modified further...etc etc
>
> "Peter J. Holzer" <hjp_at_enkur.wsr.ac.at> wrote in message
> news:slrn9e8iid.g2j.hjp_at_enkur.wsr.ac.at...
> > I have a stored procedure which generates random passwords. Currently
> > dbms_random.initialize is called with a value computed from sysdate.
> > Of course this isn't very random, so if somebody knows the algorithm and
> > the (approximate) time when a password was created, he can easily
> > compute the password. So I am looking for values which can be used as
> > "real" random number sources, I.e. values which change often and cannot
> > be guessed with sufficient accuracy from the outside. Things like number
> > of sessions, bytes read or written since last startup, etc.
> >
> > Any suggestions? (Apart from using dbms_pipe to call a script which
> > reads /dev/random - I am aware of that possibility).
> >
> > Also I am interested in the internal workings of the dbms_random package
> > (what kind of RNG it uses, etc.) Any pointers would be appreciated.
> >
> > hp
> >
> > --
> > _ | Peter J. Holzer | It's nice to fix problems by accident.
> > |_|_) | Sysadmin WSR / LUGA | -- Theo de Raadt
> > | | | hjp_at_wsr.ac.at | <deraadt_at_CVS.OPENBSD.ORG>
> > __/ | http://www.hjp.at/ | on bugtraq 2001-03-19
>
>
Received on Tue Apr 24 2001 - 06:59:06 CDT