ROMJIST Volume 20, No. 2, 2017, pp. 136-160
Kinga MARTON, Alexandra ZAHARIA, Sebastian BANESCU, Alin SUCIU Randomness Assessment of an Unpredictable Random Number Generator based on Hardware Performance Counters
ABSTRACT: Hardware performance counters capture and measure hardware events within the processor, providing a detailed indication on the internal behavior and performance of the various micro-architectural components within the processor while running system or user level programs. We have previously investigated the potential of hardware events captured by performance counters to provide entropy sources for generating unpredictable random number sequences, and now we extend the generator model introduced in [1] by various delay types and simple operations which show high impact on the internal behavior of the processor. The randomness quality of sequences produced by the generator in different configurations are thoroughly assessed using statistical and visual randomness tests which highlight the characteristics and limitations of the generator and show the improvements achieved by the new design.KEYWORDS: Randomness, Unpredictable random number generator, Hardware perfor- mance counters, Statistical test, Visual randomnessRead full text (pdf)