Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2009 09:18:41 +0100 From: Anton Shterenlikht <mexas@bristol.ac.uk> To: Roland Smith <rsmith@xs4all.nl> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, Modulok <modulok@gmail.com> Subject: Re: Secure password generation...blasphemy! Message-ID: <20090804081841.GC74277@mech-cluster241.men.bris.ac.uk> In-Reply-To: <20090804075221.GA3909@slackbox.xs4all.nl> References: <64c038660908031928v15a76d15g5599e6f3fef936e1@mail.gmail.com> <20090804075221.GA3909@slackbox.xs4all.nl>
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On Tue, Aug 04, 2009 at 09:52:21AM +0200, Roland Smith wrote: > On Mon, Aug 03, 2009 at 08:28:52PM -0600, Modulok wrote: > > I need a way to generate a lot of secure passwords. So, I read all > > about it. Either people are getting way carried away, or I'm missing > > something... > > It is very easy to generate hard-to-guess semi-random passwords: > > openssl rand -base64 6 > > some examples: > > hJ9WQ0eK oOyHWEd4 W801vDIB mob29k5I RVDXkE/9 7BRHC+8h > > Even though this is semi-random, these are still extremely hard to > guess, and neither will a dictionary attack be much use. The _big_ > downside is that this kind of passwords are hard to remember. So people > _will_ write them down. Which isn't a problem in itself, as long as they > keep that piece of paper secure. (so not taped to their monitor, or > under their keyboard.) > > A better solution IMHO is to let people make their own acronyms, mixed > with a little l33tsp34k. That way you can have something easy to > remember, but still hard to guess. E.g. "Ask not for whom the bell > tolls" would become "An4wtbt". I really like the VMS password generation facility: UAF> modify donkey/generate_password tratworman cralopyter bosequism coshindius jaritions Enter PRIMARY password: clumiump wrielene guirtiety scapress primpatly Enter PRIMARY password: odliesting conetred emenstate ammycle rasests ... You are given a choice of 5 passwords to choose from. If you don't like any, keep going until something comes up that's easy to remember for you. The system manager can specify the min required length. I think this is a really nice utility, and VMS systems are very rarely compromised, though perhaps VMS users are better trained in password safe keeping. -- Anton Shterenlikht Room 2.6, Queen's Building Mech Eng Dept Bristol University University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TR, UK Tel: +44 (0)117 928 8233 Fax: +44 (0)117 929 4423
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