Entropy (Apr 2022)

Critical Analysis of Hypothesis Tests in Federal Information Processing Standard (140-2)

  • Elena Almaraz Luengo,
  • Marcos Brian Leiva Cerna,
  • Luis Javier García Villalba,
  • Julio Hernandez-Castro,
  • Darren Hurley-Smith

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/e24050613
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 5
p. 613

Abstract

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This work presents an analysis of the existing dependencies between the tests of the FIPS 140-2 battery. Two main analytical approaches are utilized, the first being a study of correlations through the Pearson’s correlation coefficient that detects linear dependencies, and the second one being a novel application of the mutual information measure that allows detecting possible non-linear relationships. In order to carry out this study, the FIPS 140-2 battery is reimplemented to allow the user to obtain p-values and statistics that are essential for more rigorous end-user analysis of random number generators (RNG).

Keywords