The Lava Lamps That Help Keep The Internet Secure

At the headquarters of Cloudflare, in San Francisco, there's a wall of lava lamps: the Entropy Wall. They're used to generate random numbers and keep a good bit of the internet secure: here's how.

(you can find contact details and social links there too)

[TomScottGo]

This is not a sponsored video. I'll always declare if something is. I just emailed and asked if I could film their lava lamps!

[Angel_Underscore]

"Oh sh!t they're onto us"
*moves a lava lamp 1mm to the left*
"phew that was close!"

[stripethecatsoldier]

i can rest easy knowing that i'm being protected by a lava lamp

[GnomeWrestler]

This sounds like a fact you would tell your friends on a bet to secure yourself a 100% chance of winning, because who would believe the phrase "Cloudflare is encrypting your data by using lava lamps.".

This is mindbogglingly simple and genius at the same time.

[dang]

I've been there. It's in their lobby at reception, so it's also a gimmicky "cool thing" to have at a tech office.
It's not hidden in some back room. It's proudly on display.

Having said that, imagine the technicolor carnage when the inevitable (larger than normal tremors) earthquake happens.

[spacedoutorca]

I was half expecting him to go “But lava lamps will only get you so far. That’s why I use
D A S H L A N E”

[alekheuvel]

Doesn't this basically mean that if a key was made during the making of this video Tom would be included in the key?

[evilutionltd]

It's certainly cheaper than hiring 256 nerds throwing D16's with hex numbers on.

[SlayCC]

Just use a chicken and some pressure plates

[EkHatena]

Two fun facts:
-Tom didn't necessarily need to approach Cloudflare about filming in front of the lava lamps as Cloudflare encourages people to come pass by, take photos/videos, and even put on approved demonstrations or performances in front of the lamps, as that introduces further randomness.
-Their London office has a machine that utilizes the RNG data their offices have produced to spit out receipts that contain random numbers, phrases, Magic 8-Ball responses, mazes, sudokus, and QR codes.

[albertbatfinder]

Shouting “The Wall is Lava!!” at that office is the quickest way to get yourself thrown out.

[marcinchaciej]

There is no better RNG than a box with a keyboard and a cat inside.

[charlottebiscuit]

i really hope theres now some keys with encrypted pictures of tom scott standing next to the lava lamp wall now

[antoniomargallo]

So, this is how the YouTube algorithm works?

[stevenbridges]

Damn this is clever! Who knew that lava lamps are keeping us safe 😂

[ThisLittleCriticSanad]

That is brilliant! And super mesmerizing!

[humter]

I imagine that somewhere on the internet, there's a key that contains Tom Scott

[ZORU]

I wonder what cloudflare does to keep us safe

Cloudflare: haha lava lamp go blob blob

[HussainAHN]

God damn it Tom! How do you keep finding all of this interesting crap?

[VivienneGucwa]

And then the company currently using a basket of kittens slowly, and surreptitiously raises their collective eyebrows...