Post #4481771
2026-08-09 22:03 UTC
Do mini PCIe hardware security modules or standalone cryptographically strong pRNGs exist? If they do, where can I get one? NetBSD is complaining about low entropy (laptop from 2011) & suggests I keysmash, use an entropy file, or get a USB pRNG. I would prefer to have all of my USB ports free.
I have no idea where to find such a thing & I can't even find USB HSMs besides the one that YubiCo sells. The closest thing I have found is a bunch of TPM2 chips with SPI headers on them & I don't think I have any free SPI connectors in the laptop. For now I'll use an entropy file but I would rather do something better like using a proper RNG device.
I think people watching these tags might know more than I can find with a search engine. Thank you.
#Security #BSD #NetBSD #Linux #Cryptography
Replies (1)
-
@marshray@infosec.exchange 2026-08-09 22:45
@jackemled@furry.engineer Any OS that can’t extract from the background activity of a 2011-era laptop enough entropy to initialize its RNG within a few seconds is broken. Possibly the system is making an overly-conservative assessment based on portability to some worst-case embedded hardware scenario.