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Random number generation
========================
When generating random data for use in cryptographic operations, such as an
initialization vector for encryption in
:class:`~cryptography.hazmat.primitives.ciphers.modes.CBC` mode, you do not
want to use the standard :mod:`random` module APIs. This is because they do not
provide a cryptographically secure random number generator, which can result in
major security issues depending on the algorithms in use.
Therefore, it is our recommendation to `always use your operating system's
provided random number generator`_, which is available as :func:`os.urandom`.
For example, if you need 16 bytes of random data for an initialization vector,
you can obtain them with:
.. doctest::
>>> import os
>>> iv = os.urandom(16)
This will use ``/dev/urandom`` on UNIX platforms, and ``CryptGenRandom`` on
Windows.
.. _`always use your operating system's provided random number generator`: http://sockpuppet.org/blog/2014/02/25/safely-generate-random-numbers/
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