FreeBSD will no longer allow users to trust processors manufactured by Intel and Via Technologies as the sole source of random numbers needed to generate cryptographic keys
Following NSA leaks from Snowden, engineers lose faith in hardware randomness.: “We cannot trust” Intel and Via’s chip-based crypto, FreeBSD developers say
“We cannot trust” Intel and Via’s chip-based crypto, FreeBSD developers say
Following NSA leaks from Snowden, engineers lose faith in hardware randomness.
And they're right. They can't, not without detailed design knowledge of the hardware in question.
I'm scared. Should I be?
That depends. Are you doing anything that would interest the NSA?
At this point we have to assume that the US Intelligence Agencies, and most other government agencies, have strong armed companies to weaken things for them, or they've done an end run around them and put them there themselves.
It's already been demonstrated that the NSA (among other government organs) has made efforts to keep public crypto as weak as possible.