[Discuss] How do I add entropy?

[dsr at randomstring.org (Dan Ritter)]

On Sat, Sep 06, 2014 at 05:50:13PM -0400, Bill Horne wrote:
> On 9/6/2014 4:17 PM, Bill Ricker wrote:
> >On Sat, Sep 6, 2014 at 4:00 PM, Bill Horne<bill at horne.net>  wrote:
> >>2. Does "doing other things" on the system contribute to the entropy pool? In
> >>other words, does Linux acquire randomness by monitoring the time between
> >>keystrokes or mouse movements or similar "normal" events?
> >
> >Yes. Noise-bits from timing of Mouse, keyboard, and disk access are
> >likely all to be harvested.
> >
> 
> Thanks, that's nice to know.
> 
> Is there any way to speed the process? Short of putting up an
> antenna and counting bits of static, how can I accumulate random
> bits more quickly that by typing or moving the mouse?
> 
> Long story short, must I tough it out and copy "War and Peace" by
> hand in order to get enough  entropy for a new key?

Run something disk intensive? Play a game? Go read usenet?

Or you can buy a USB key with a hardware random number source on
it. http://www.entropykey.co.uk/ among others.

-dsr-