Strong & Secure Random Password Generator
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This strong random password generator creates strong random plain text passwords using the PCG32 random number generator without sending the password over the internet or storing the generated password on a server. If you are still uncomfortable using this utility you can generate multiple passwords, save them to your device and use different parts from each to create a unique password, otherwise you may want to try something like using the Python REPL to generate a strong password.
I developed this password generator because I don't trust the security and randomness of passwords generated by other password generators; plus, I like a challenge. I also wanted to test out Melissa E. O'Neill's implementation of the PCG32 pseudo-random number generator with an environment-based seed. By generating multiple passwords using this strong password generator, saving them to my local computer then mixing them I can confidently trust in the uniqueness and security of my passwords. The number of password breaches each year is staggering. By using a unique, random password for every account I can rest assured that even if one system is hacked all of my other accounts' passwords are safe.
Pro Tips for Users
- Always use unique passwords for every account you have.
- Always use unique security questions and answers for every account you have.
- Never use the same password multiple times.
- Always ensure passwords are at a minimum sixteen characters long. The longer the better.
- Always ensure every password contains a mixture of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation and special symbols.
- Never use dictionary words, birthdays, family members' names, pets' names or any other easily guessable words in your passwords.
- Never use your address, postal code, phone number, ID card number, or other personally identifiable information in your passwords.
- Never use an easily guessed or commonly used password such as P@ssw0rd, $ecr3t or AbC!23.
- Never use similar passwords with mostly the same characters and only a few characters changed, because one comprimised password will still comprimize all of the other passwords. For example MyPassword4Gmail and MyPassword4Mac.
- Never share your password over text message, instant messenger, facebook, instagram, slack, discord or unencrypted email.
- Please don't write your password down on a sticky note and put it on your computer screen visible to others.
- If you're setting a password that must be memorized try using the first few letters of each word in a phrase.
- Never log in to an important account via public WiFi or on an untrusted device (e.g. friend's computer or mobile phone).
- Always make sure the site you are logging in to is encrypted with a secure certificate.
- Always make sure the site you are logging in to is the site you are expecting. Use bookmarks whenever possible.
- Do not trust entering your password into forms you arrived at by clicking a link in an email or private message.
- Change your passwords every two or three months, or in the event of a security breach, change your password immediately.
- Use two-factor-authentication or multi-factor-authentication whenever possible.
- Trust noone. Banks, website helpdesk personnel, your IT guy...noone. Never give out your password, ever.
- Do not store your more critical passwords unencrypted in the cloud. The cloud is not as safe as you think.
- Use a VPN whenever possible. If you are traveling, it is fairly easy to install and configure a single-user OpenVPN server that allows you to be in control of your connection's security.
- Do not trust your web browser to store your passwords in a secure manner.
- Always keep your computer, web browser, internet router, and devices up-to-date. Hackers can very easily exploit older versions.
- Use AntiVirus software. Just do it.
- Encrypt all drives connected to your computer
- Be careful when using online paste tools and screen capture tools, do not let them to upload your passwords to the cloud.
- Do not log in to critical accounts using another person's computer or using a shared computer.
- Lock your computer and mobile phone when you leave them.
Pro Tips for Developers
- Never generate users' passwords and transmit the generated passwords via email.
- Never store users' passwords, security questions and answers as plain text. Ever. I will find you if you do this, and I will say very unkind things to you.
- Always salt and hash passwords with unique, non-deterministic salt per user.
- Always log invalid login attempts and alert users of suspicious activity.
- Always lock accounts after several incorrect login attempts.
- Always use TLS with a valid, up-to-date certificate. Personally, I like certbot.
- Remember: the internet is a scary place filled with viruses, bugs, hackers, bots and the darkweb; let's not make it worse by building shitty password management systems.
- To prevent brute force login attacks on your dedicated, virtual private, or cloud servers install intrusion detection and prevention software. Both Palo Alto Networks and Alert Logic provide quite comprehensive solutions.
- Sign package updates with a private key using GnuPG and verify the signature of it with the public key published previously.
- Use your own domain for all user-facing interactions.
- Require VPN access for administrators.
- Restrict access using a firewall to any internal non-public facing servers and services.
- Finally, if any of this is confusing, ask questions. Go find a more senior developer and ask them how they would do it.
Also check out the Random Passphrase Generator, Unicode Random Password Generator, and How to Generate a Strong Random Password in Python.
-Sethers
