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Interestingly a one time pad may be crackable. Its theoretical uncrackability is only true if a truly random number generator is used. Most cryptography is fine with urandom but a one time pad requires using something like radioactive decay to generate your pad.

This is one reason (among many) why it's impractical for most crypto purposes.




Assuming a flawless CSRNG, 128 bits of entropy is more than enough to withstand current attack power. It's hard to predict the future -- quantum computers employing Grover's algorithm could conceivably have 2x or more attack power per unit energy -- but 256 bits should be adequate for a long time.

It's fine to use low-grade sources of entropy like timestamps as long as we have enough of it. I might only generate a few bits of actual entropy per second when I move my mouse in somewhat predictable arcs, but if I keep at it for a while, I'll generate 256 bits of entropy eventually.


Right, but his point is that you're not really talking about an OTP anymore, but rather a stream cipher that's as strong as the RNG. It will situationally be quite secure, but not the theoretical unbreakability of an OTP.

OTPs are silly.




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