"How Randomly Moving Electrons Can Improve Cyber Security"

A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has developed a record-breaking True Random Number Generator (TRNG) to improve data encryption and provide enhanced security for sensitive digital data such as credit card details, passwords, and more. Only authorized individuals with access to a cryptographic "key" can decode encrypted data. To avoid hacking, the key must be unpredictable and thus randomly generated. Typically, cryptographic keys are generated on computers through Pseudorandom Number Generators (PRNGs), which use mathematical formulae or pre-programmed tables to generate numbers that appear random but are not. A TRNG, on the other hand, generates random numbers from naturally unpredictable physical processes, making it more secure. IISc's breakthrough TRNG device generates random numbers using the random motion of electrons. It contains an artificial electron trap made by stacking atomically-thin layers of materials such as black phosphorus and graphene. The current measured from the device increases when an electron is trapped and decreases when it is released. As electrons move in and out of the trap randomly, the measured current also changes randomly. The change's timing determines the generated random number. You cannot precisely predict when the electron is going to enter the trap, so there is an inherent randomness embedded in this process. The device's performance on the standard tests for cryptographic applications designed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) exceeded the researchers' expectations. This article continues to discuss the importance of random number generation in encryption and IISc's TRNG new device.

IISc reports "How Randomly Moving Electrons Can Improve Cyber Security"