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Neural Network Based Min-entropy Estimation for Random Number Generators

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Security and Privacy in Communication Networks (SecureComm 2018)

Abstract

Random Number Generators (RNGs) are essential for cryptographic systems and communication security. A cryptographic application is prone to have a serious security risk if the entropy source that generates the random number cannot provide sufficient randomness (unpredictability) as expected. The min-entropy is usually employed to evaluate the unpredictability, which measures the difficulty of guessing the most likely output of RNGs. Recently, predictors for min-entropy estimation are proposed in the NIST 800-90B (90B), which attempt to predict the next sample in a sequence based on all previous samples. However, these predictors have shortfalls in evaluating random number with long dependence and multivariate due to huge time complexity (i.e., high-order polynomial time complexity). From the concept of predictors, we provide several suitable and efficient predictors based on neural networks for min-entropy estimation. The neural networks apply to approximating the Probability Distribution Function (PDF) and have a linear complexity of the sample space. Compared to the 90B’s predictors, the experimental results on various simulated source demonstrate that our proposed predictors have a comparable accuracy, and the execution efficiency has a significant improvement. Furthermore, when the sample space is over \(2^2\) and sample size is over \(10^8\), the 90B’s predictors cannot give the estimated result. Instead, our proposed predictors still can provide an accurate result.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61602476 and No. 61772518), and Cryptography Development Foundation of China (No. MMJJ20170205).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Data Assurance and Communication Security Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jing Yang, Shuangyi Zhu, Tianyu Chen, Yuan Ma, Na Lv & Jingqiang Lin

  2. State Key Laboratory of Information Security, Institute of Information Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jing Yang, Shuangyi Zhu, Tianyu Chen, Yuan Ma, Na Lv & Jingqiang Lin

  3. School of Cyber Security, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jing Yang, Shuangyi Zhu & Na Lv

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  1. Jing Yang
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  2. Shuangyi Zhu
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  3. Tianyu Chen
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  4. Yuan Ma
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  5. Na Lv
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  6. Jingqiang Lin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tianyu Chen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Klaus Advanced Computing Building, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Raheem Beyah

  2. Singapore Management University, Singapore, Singapore

    Bing Chang

  3. School of Information Systems, Singapore Management University, Singapore, Singapore

    Yingjiu Li

  4. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Sencun Zhu

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© 2018 ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Yang, J., Zhu, S., Chen, T., Ma, Y., Lv, N., Lin, J. (2018). Neural Network Based Min-entropy Estimation for Random Number Generators. In: Beyah, R., Chang, B., Li, Y., Zhu, S. (eds) Security and Privacy in Communication Networks. SecureComm 2018. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 255. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01704-0_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01704-0_13

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-01704-0

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