[$] Random numbers and virtual-machine forks

One of the key characteristics of a random-number generator (RNG) is itsunpredictability; by definition, it should not be possible to know what thenext number to be produced will be. System security depends on this unpredictabilityat many levels. An attacker who knows an RNG's future output may be ableto eavesdrop on (or interfere with) network conversations, compromisecryptographic keys, and more. So it is a bit disconcerting to know thatthere is a common event that can cause RNG predictability: the forking orduplication of avirtual machine. Linux RNG maintainer Jason Donenfeld is working on asolution to this problem.