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Interview question · Cryptography, PKI & TLS

Where do randomness failures come from, and how have they broken real systems?

Cryptography assumes unpredictable numbers, and real systems have repeatedly failed to supply them. The scored answer gives the causes, the famous failures, and the rules that prevent repeats.

mediumNewPreparation tags: Google, Apple, MicrosoftUpdated Nov 2026

Cryptography assumes unpredictable numbers, and real systems have repeatedly failed to supply them. The scored answer gives the causes, the famous failures, and the rules that prevent repeats.

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What would you say before reading the answer?

  1. 01 State the assumptions your answer depends on.
  2. 02 Explain the mechanism and choose a control.
  3. 03 Name a condition that would change your decision.

The worked answer includes an approach, scoring criteria and follow-up questions. Compare the reasoning with your own.

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What if · the follow-ups in this answer

The answer works through 6 follow-ups like an interviewer would

A service generates session tokens using a general-purpose random function seeded with the current time.

  1. How does randomness fail?
  2. Why are these session tokens weak?
  3. What real failures show the stakes?
  4. What should be used instead?
  5. What about cloned VMs and containers?
  6. How would you fix the service?

Each rung has a nudge, a model answer, the principle that carries over and the weak answer to avoid. Premium opens every answer and ladder.

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