JVTech News Why the security of millions of websites depends on 100 lava lamps
Published on December 29, 2023 at 8:20 p.m
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When we talk about website security, we can think of anything, but definitely not lava lamps. And yet this primarily decorative object has another use that is, to say the least, surprising…
Cloudflare's surprising decision to choose lava lamps as their encryption solution
To ensure the security of our internet connections, data transmitted online is encrypted.. To avoid errors, encryption must be as random as possible so that hackers cannot predict or understand it.
While every program generally has logic, lava lamps do not.. You know, that decorative device that contains a container filled with oil and colored wax. Heated by the light bulb, the wax forms moving beads that create a hypnotic visual effect. It is impossible to predict what shapes and colors will appear. Something that Cloudflare understands well, which uses a wall of a hundred lava lamps for its encryption.
©Cloudflare
As a reminder, Cloudflare is a San Francisco-based company that provides web security applications to defend against DDoS attacks.. In addition, it provides a network of servers (CDN) that enables rapid distribution of client content. Its customers include giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Netflix. Officials estimate that 16% of all global Internet traffic passes through their infrastructure. Therefore, encryption is a big issue for Cloudflare.
If it makes you smile, lava lamps have a genuine interest in encryption. They even outperform computers at generating random values, a crucial need for data encryption. Computers that operate logically prove ineffective at generating truly random values.
And for good reason: computers work according to constant rules and thus ensure the reproducibility of the results. For example, adding 4 to 3 always results in the number 7. However, this predictability limits the ability of computers to reproduce the unpredictability of reality and thus generate random numbers with analyzable patterns.
Pseudorandom number generators (PRNG) simulate these values by using a seed to produce a seemingly random but predictable sequence. While PRNGs are widely used in various areas – including video games like Minecraft – applications that require high security opt for hardware generators instead.
This is particularly the case with Cloudlare, which uses 100 lava lamps installed in the hall of Cloudflare headquarters. The “lava” of these lamps never takes the same shape and the whole thing represents an excellent source of randomness. No two photos of the lamp wall are the same.
A camera installed in the lobby periodically captures images of the wall of lava lamps. These images are then converted into completely randomly generated number sequences and used to generate secure encryption codes. This turns a simple retro decoration from the last few decades into a high-tech tool for IT security.
The fusion of technology and lava lamps even extends to everyday interaction. Visitors and employees can stand in front of the lava lamps and photograph them, making them part of a new security key.
Check out the lava lamps available on Amazon
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