Update #2: JEP 123: SecureRandom First Draft and Implementation.

[Michael StJohns]

At 09:45 AM 1/9/2013, Sean Mullan wrote:
>think it is unlikely that 2 providers would implement the same SecureRandom algorithm, since the names are not standardized like other cryptographic algorithms such as SHA-256, RSA, etc.

Can this be fixed?  There really should be a flavor for this.


E.g. 

SP800-90a/SHA256/HASH
SP800-90A/SHA256/HMAC
SP800-90A/AES/CTR
NRBG/NoisyDiode[/implementation id]
NRBG/RingOscillator[/Implementation id]

There are about 6 classes of NIST "approved" deterministic random number generators.  See http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips140-2/fips1402annexc.pdf.



I wouldn't be surprised to find that multiple providers implement the same RNGs, but don't have a common name for them.  In fact, according to wikipedia, the underlying function for MSCAPI is the FIPS186-2 appendix 3.1 with SHA1 function. 

Mike