NAME

     rndtest — FIPS 140-2 random number generator test monitor

SYNOPSIS

     device rndtest

DESCRIPTION

     The rndtest driver “hooks up” to hardware crypto devices to monitor the entropy data passed
     to the random(4) subsystem.  This data is periodically tested for FIPS 140-2 compliance and
     statistics are collected.  If the harvested entropy fails any of the FIPS test suite, then
     it is discarded and testing is continuously applied until “good data” is received from the
     device.  Failures are optionally reported on the console.

SEE ALSO

     crypto(4), hifn(4), random(4), safe(4), ubsec(4), crypto(9)

HISTORY

     The idea for this and the original code came from Jason L. Wright.  The rndtest device
     driver first appeared in FreeBSD 5.0.

BUGS

     Crypto device drivers must be compiled specially to make use of this driver; this should not
     be necessary.  This feature might better be integrated into the random(4) subsystem where it
     can be applied to devices that claim to supply “pure entropy”.