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Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities. -- Mark Twain

sci / sci.crypt / Re: The Marsaglia Random Number CD-ROM needed

Subject: Re: The Marsaglia Random Number CD-ROM needed
From: Rich
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2024 20:03 UTC
References: 1

Path: eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: rich@example.invalid (Rich)
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Subject: Re: The Marsaglia Random Number CD-ROM needed
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2024 20:03:47 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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Chax Plore <ftilojim@tznvy.pbz> wrote:
> Good day, everyone,
>
> I am searching for untouched version of George Marsaglia's Diehard
> CD-ROM. By "untouched" I mean bit-identical ISO copy of original CD-ROM
> disc.

How do you plan to validate that what you /might/ eventually receive is
in fact bit-identical to said original? Do you have hash values for
the originals to use to verify "identical"?

I.e., gaming this out, an 'interested' attacker could create and post
you a cdrom that looks visually identical to the original in every way,
but does not in fact contain bit-identical data to an actual original.

> I planned to post my request on sci.crypt.random-numbers, but it has no
> activity.

Do note that "no postings" does not equate perfectly with "no readers".
There could be people who would read and respond, but only in reply to
a post.

> More info, including photo of original disc is available at
> https://github.com/jeffThompson/DiehardCDROM

Unfortunately I do not have any copies to offer up.

Subject: Re: The Marsaglia Random Number CD-ROM needed
From: Chax Plore
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Organization: i2pn2 (i2pn.org)
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2024 20:16 UTC
References: 1 2

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From: ftilojim@tznvy.pbz (Chax Plore)
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Subject: Re: The Marsaglia Random Number CD-ROM needed
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2024 21:16:48 +0100
Organization: i2pn2 (i2pn.org)
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On 2024-03-03 21:03, Rich wrote:
> Chax Plore <ftilojim@tznvy.pbz> wrote:

> How do you plan to validate that what you /might/ eventually receive is
> in fact bit-identical to said original? Do you have hash values for
> the originals to use to verify "identical"?
>
> I.e., gaming this out, an 'interested' attacker could create and post
> you a cdrom that looks visually identical to the original in every way,
> but does not in fact contain bit-identical data to an actual original.
>
Well, there are good folks here, active for years, who, I assume, can be
trusted, unless they all are undercover NSA operatives ;)

More seriously, I would check for all differences between CDROM files
received and files from other copies. All differences I would analyse
if they are innocent format-only, like different newline standards,
or if they are much deeper differences, which I would treat with utmost
suspicion.

> Do note that "no postings" does not equate perfectly with "no readers".
> There could be people who would read and respond, but only in reply to
> a post.

Thank you for this suggestion, I will post my request also to other
groups as well.

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Subject	Author
Re: The Marsaglia Random Number CD-ROM needed	Rich
Re: The Marsaglia Random Number CD-ROM needed	Chax Plore