The random-number generator uses digital circuits to stump the smartest hackers

For several years, you could find an online source of random numbers, called Lavarand. It got its numbers from the pictures a computer took of the waxy blobs churning away inside lava lamps. More sophisticated hardware-based systems use quantum-mechanical phenomena, such as photons striking a half-silvered mirror, as a basis for generating random numbers. You can even get an ordinary unassisted computer to produce random numbers based on erratic events taking place within its own mundane hardware—the precise timing of keystrokes, for example. But to get many of these numbers, you'd need to hammer away at a lot of keys.

We and our colleagues at Intel think this should be easier. That's why for more than a decade now, many of our company's chip sets have included an analog, hardware-based random-number generator. The problem is that its analog circuitry squanders power. Also, it's hard to keep that analog circuitry working properly as we improve our fabrication processes. That's why we have now developed a new and entirely digital system that allows a microprocessor to produce a copious stream of random values without those difficulties. Soon it will be coming to a processor near you...