Backtracking Resistance

nouncandidate·updated May 9, 2026

GlossaryL1 — what DictionaryL2 — how used ThesaurusL3 — relations Universaleverything

Backtracking resistance is provided relative to time T if there is assurance that an adversary who has knowledge of the internal state of the Deterministic Random Bit Generator (DRBG) at some time subsequent to time T would be unable to distinguish between observations of ideal random bitstrings and (previously unseen) bitstrings that were output by the DRBG prior to time T. The complementary assurance is called Prediction Resistance.

Framework senses

2 senses across 2 frameworks

NISTIR 7298: Glossary of Key Information Security Terms, Revision 21 senseview framework →

§1: Backtracking resistance is provided relative to time T if there is assurance that an adversary who has knowledge of the internal state of the Deterministic Random Bit Generator (DRBG) at some time subsequent to time T would be unable to distinguish between observations of ideal random bitstrings and (previously unseen) bitstrings that were output by the DRBG prior to time T. The complementary assurance is called Prediction Resistance.

NIST SP 800-90A1 senseview framework →

§1: Backtracking resistance is provided relative to time T if there is assurance that an adversary who has knowledge of the internal state of the Deterministic Random Bit Generator (DRBG) at some time subsequent to time T would be unable to distinguish between observations of ideal random bitstrings and (previously unseen) bitstrings that were output by the DRBG prior to time T. The complementary assurance is called Prediction Resistance.