Does Cloudflare really use lava lamps?

To generate encryption keys for SSL/TLS encryption, Cloudflare uses a CSPRNG, with data collected from the lava lamps as part of the cryptographic seed.

Why are lava lamps random?

The lava lamps provide a source of true randomness, or entropy. The movement of the globs of hot wax are unpredictable. A camera takes video of the lamps. Because the ‘lava’ bubbles with no pattern, each snapshot of video is unique.

What is used to generate random digits?

Pseudorandom numbers are an alternative to “true” random numbers. A computer could use a seed value and an algorithm to generate numbers that appear to be random, but that are in fact predictable.

How do lava lamps work?

In a liquid motion lamp, the heat usually comes from a light bulb. The heavier liquid absorbs the heat, and as it heats up, it expands. As it expands it becomes less dense. Because the liquids have very similar densities, the formerly heavier liquid is suddenly lighter than the other liquid, so it rises.

What is Cloudflare company?

Cloudflare, Inc. is an American web infrastructure and website security company that provides content delivery network and DDoS mitigation services. Its services occur between a website’s visitor and the Cloudflare customer’s hosting provider, acting as a reverse proxy for websites.

How do lava lamps protect the Internet?

At Cloudflare in San Francisco, California, a wall of lava lamps encrypts up to 10 percent of the world wide web. Cameras record the groovy, random movement of the lamps and convert the movement into an unbreakable code. The randomness of this wall of lava lamps helps encrypt up to 10 percent of the internet.

What is lava lamp experiment?

When enough bubbles pop, the water-and-remaining gas becomes more dense than the oil. So the ball of water sinks down through the oil and joins the rest of the water. Changes in density as gas is added to or taken away from water cause it to float up and sink down through the oil. Thus the lava lamp is created!

How does a lava lamp work convection?

So when a glob reaches the top of the lava lamp, it contracts. It becomes denser than the surrounding liquid and begins to sink. When it reaches the bottom, the whole cycle repeats! A lava lamp is an example of a convection current.

How does Cloudflare use lava lamps to collect data?

The “lava” in a lava lamp never takes the same shape twice, and as a result, observing a group of lava lamps is a great source for random data. To collect this data, Cloudflare has arranged about 100 lava lamps on one of the walls in the lobby of the Cloudflare headquarters and mounted a camera pointing at the lamps.

What is Cloudflare and how does it work?

Content Delivery Network Cloudflare, as Tom Scott explains, instead turns to a wall of lava lamps which it uses as input into a video feed which turns the unpredictable visual data of floating blogs into a truly random number. Given that Cloudfare provides the infrastructure behind large swaths of the internet, it pays to be careful.

What is Cloudflare’s wall of entropy?

In Cloudflare’s San Francisco office, it’s called the Wall of Entropy. Four rows of lava lamps turn on and off while a camera records them—capturing not just the hot wax bubbling in the lamps, but the office environment. People walk by. The sunlight from a nearby window changes. Think of randomness as a lack of pattern.

How does Cloudflare generate SSL/TLS keys?

To generate encryption keys for SSL/TLS encryption, Cloudflare uses a CSPRNG, with data collected from the lava lamps as part of the cryptographic seed. What is a cryptographic seed? A cryptographic seed is the data that a CSPRNG starts with for generating random data.