Stronger Methods
A variety of methods exist for generating strong, cryptographically secure random passwords. On Unix platforms /dev/random and /dev/urandom are commonly used, either programmatically or in conjunction with a program such as makepasswd. The Java programming language includes a class called SecureRandom. Windows programmers can use the Cryptographic Application Programming Interface function CryptGenRandom. Another possibility is to derive randomness by measuring some external phenomenon, such as timing user keyboard input.
Many computer systems already have an application (typically named "apg") to implement FIPS 181. FIPS 181—Automated Password Generator—describes a standard process for converting random bits (from a hardware random number generator) into somewhat pronounceable "words" suitable for a passphrase.
These methods should prove adequate for most password generation needs, but their suitability will vary depending on the specific situation.
Read more about this topic: Random Password Generator
Famous quotes containing the words stronger and/or methods:
“The force of a death should be enormous but how can you know what kind of man you’ve killed or who was the braver and stronger if you have to peer through layers of glass that deliver the image but obscure the meaning of the act? War has a conscience or it’s ordinary murder.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)
“It would be some advantage to live a primitive and frontier life, though in the midst of an outward civilization, if only to learn what are the gross necessaries of life and what methods have been taken to obtain them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)