Time
Time such as the number of milliseconds since 1970.User Input
User input such as the movement of a mouse or keyboard timings.Hardware
Hardware statistics that are viewed as somewhat random such as fan noise.Audio
Noise from a microphone is a good source of random data.Combinations
Combining different types of information such as time, hardware statistics and user input data.Operating Systems
Operating systems commonly support random numbers by collecting user input and hardware state information. For example, the linux operating system makes this information available in a special file known as /dev/random.True Random Number Generator
Hardware that can produce a random number based on detection of low-level physical phenomena such as thermal noise.Notes
Random seeds are associated with information security as pseudorandom numbers are required for secure encryption.It is common for encryption keys to be generated using random numbers such that they can be determined if you know the random seed.Certain types of random seed aren't particularly secure as they are predictable. For example, seeds based solely on time. Beyond security, random numbers are commonly used by algorithms, statistical analysis and to implement variability into games.| Overview: Random Seed | ||
Type | ||
Definition | Information that is used to initialize a pseudorandom number generator. | |
Related Concepts | ||
