Collecting my attempts to improve at tech, art, and life

Try xkcdpass

Tags: linux security tools

attachments/img/2019/cover-2019-07-30.png
XKCD 936 (CC BY-NC 2.5)

[!Summary] Use xkcdpass to generate more secure passwords, like “correcthorsebatterystaple”.

This started as a Note but I passed my 15 minute rule — if I spend more than 15 minutes on it, it should be a post — so here we are.

It won’t satisfy your bank’s silly password requirements, but — as XKCD told us — using a random collection of words for your password provides more security than trying to Leet-speak some word with numbers and symbols.

You could pick a handful of words by flipping through the dictionary, but why not let the computer do it for you? That’s where xkcdpass comes in.

It’s probably available in your package repository.

$ pacman -Ss xkcdpass

It’s just #python , so you can use pip if you’re on macOS or Windows or some other platform that doesn’t have xkcdpass handy.

pip install xkcdpass

Regardless of how you install it, run it and grab the output — but let your password manager remember it for you.

$ xkcdpass
tiara embezzle stack doorway scrambled imitate

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Added to vault 2024-01-15. Updated on 2024-05-01