Sin 18: Cryptographically Strong Random Numbers

Overview of the Sin

Imagine youre playing poker online. The computer shuffles and deals the cards. You get your cards, and then another program tells you whats in everybody elses hands. While it may sound far- fetched , this is a very real scenario that has happened before.

Random numbers are used to perform all sorts of important tasks. Beyond things like card shuffling, theyre often used to generate things like cryptographic keys and session identifiers. In many tasks requiring random numbers, an attacker who can predict numbers (even with only a slight probability of success) can often leverage this information to breech the security of a system.