The lamps are recorded on video, then the lamp’s movements are translated to encryption keys for the web. These results help protect internet giants including Uber, OKCupid, FitBit and others, totaling around 10% of global traffic.
Cloudflare has good reason not to trust algorithm-generated code, and instead rely on the effectively erratic movements contained in lava lamps because anything made using algorithms, could potentially be guessed at or reverse-engineered by sophisticated hackers — fluid dynamics of lava lamps, not so much.
And these top-secret cryptographic devices are not hidden behind lock and key, but publicly on view. In fact, additional disturbances from human proximity can add more randomness to the equation. In the end, it’s a surprisingly low-tech solution, but it mixes things up and ultimately does the job.