Lattice1 Random Number Generation

When you generate a new crypto wallet on the Lattice, you can rest assured that the process is entirely safe and adheres to the highest level of security possible. We of course support BIP-39, which means that the 24 words in seed phrases generated on the Lattice are taken from the list of 2048 words that are defined by that proposal (that is industry standard).

In addition to that, we also use a very secure way of generating random numbers.

RNG or random number generation is a very important security aspect of hardware/software. There are two kinds - pseudorandom number generators (generally software) and true random number generators (generally hardware).

The difference between them is that even though the numbers generated by a PRNG appear random, they are in fact pre-determined by the algorithm and if you know the current state of the RNG, you will be able to replicate the rolls - this has some uses in e.g. computer games and other areas, but in order to secure significant amounts of money in crypto on a hardware wallet, it is preferrable to use a TRNG.

TRNGs are "truly" random because the algorithm adds entropy from an unpredictable source, e.g. temperature on the CPU, or input from other physical sensors. TRNGs are always hardware devices as you cannot pull random entropy from software only, but there are sophisticated software-only RNGs that can produce random numbers which are safe to use in cryptography - these are not the topic of this article though, and we're mentioning them just to highlight that they exist.

The Lattice1's RNG is a true random number generator. The device follows a standard called SP800-90A, which defines how to generate random numbers based on some source of noise (entropy). With the Lattice's HSM (the SCE), the random noise signal comes from multiple sources - a ring oscillator that takes into account temperature and voltage variations within the Secure Enclave, the device's unique hardware fingerprint (PUF AKA physically uncloneable function - each Lattice chip is unique like a snowflake), as well as additional sources of entropy.

Strict adherence to this standard and using multiple sources of noise for our TRNG rather than just one or a software PRNG puts the Lattice's entropy a class ahead of other commercially available crypto hardware wallets.