How do you generate passwords? [closed]

Question

How do you generate passwords?

• Random Characters?
• Passphrases?
• High Ascii?

Something like this?

cat /dev/urandom | strings

Answer 1

import random

length = 12
charset = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"

password = ""
for i in range(0, length):
    token += random.choice(charset)

print password

Answer 2

I start with the initials of a sentence in a foreign language, with some convention for capitalizing some of them. Then, I insert in a particular part of the sentence a combination of numbers and symbols derived from the name of the application or website.

This scheme generates a unique password for each application that I can re-derive each time in my head with no trouble (so no memorization), and there is zero chance of any part of it showing up in a dictionary.

Answer 3

I don't like random character passwords. They are difficult to remember.

Generally my passwords fall into tiers based on how important that information is to me.

My most secure passwords tend to use a combination of old BBS random generated passwords that I was too young and dumb to know how to change and memorized. Appending a few of those together with liberal use of the shift key works well. If I don't use those I find pass phrases better. Perhaps a phrase from some book that I enjoy, once again with some mixed case and special symbols put it. Often I'll use more than 1 phrase, or several words from one phrase, concatenated with several from another.

On low priority sites my passwords are are pretty short, generally a combination of a few familiar tokens.

The place I have the biggest problem is work, where we need to change our password every 30 days and can't repeat passwords. I just do like everyone else, come up with a password and append an ever increasing index to the end. Password rules like that are absurd.

Answer 4

I use password safe to generate and store all my passwords, that way you don't have to remember super strong passwords (well except the one that unlocks your safe).

Answer 5

An slight variation on your suggestion:

head -c 32 /dev/random | base64

Optionally, you can trim the trailing = and use echo to get a newline:

echo $(head -c 32 /dev/random | base64 | head -c 32)

which gives you a more predictable output length password whilst still ensuring only printable characters.

Answer 6

Well, my technique is to use first letters of the words of my favorite songs. Need an example: Every night in my dreams, I see you, I feel you...

Give me:

enimdisyify

... and a little of insering numbers e.g. i=1, o=0 etc...

en1md1sy1fy

... capitalization? Always give importance to yourself :)

And the final password is...

en1Md1sy1fy