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< title > Correct Horse Battery Staple-Style Password Generator< / title >
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< body data-spy = "scroll" data-target = "nav" data-offset = "72" >
< nav class = "navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-light bg-light fixed-top" >
< div class = "container" >
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< a class = "navbar-brand" href = "#" > Correct Horse Battery < span class = "staple" > Staple< / span > < / a >
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< button class = "navbar-toggler" type = "button" data-toggle = "collapse" data-target = "#nav-anchors"
aria-controls="nav-anchors" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
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< span class = "navbar-toggler-icon" > < / span >
< / button >
< div class = "collapse navbar-collapse" id = "nav-anchors" >
< ul class = "nav navbar-nav mr-auto" >
< li class = "nav-item" >
< a class = "nav-link" href = "#generator" > Password Generator< / a >
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< li class = "nav-item" >
< a class = "nav-link" href = "#idea" > Idea< / a >
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< li class = "nav-item" >
< a class = "nav-link" href = "#faq" > FAQ< / a >
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< / ul >
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< div class = "container" id = "generator" >
< div class = "jumbotron py-4" >
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< div class = "alert alert-danger" id = "too-old" >
${require('octicons').alert.toSVG({ height: 24 })}
Your browser is too old: it does not support the necessary APIs for this web application.
< / div >
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< p class = "lead" > This is a truly secure password generator that generates easy-to-remember passwords.< / p >
< hr class = "my-4" >
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< div class = "input-group mb-3" >
< input id = "generated-password" class = "form-control form-control-lg text-monospace" type = "text"
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placeholder="Click the Generate button to generate a new password" autocomplete="off" readonly>
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< div class = "input-group-append" >
< button class = "btn btn-success copy" type = "button" id = "copy-password"
data-clipboard-target="#generated-password">
${require('octicons').clippy.toSVG({ height: 20 })}
< / button >
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< / div >
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< / div >
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< div class = "progress my-3" id = "password-bits" >
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< div class = "progress-bar" role = "progressbar" aria-valuemin = "0" > < / div >
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< / div >
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< form id = "options-form" >
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< div class = "form-group row" >
< label for = "word-list" class = "col-sm-2 col-form-label" > Word List< / label >
< div class = "col-sm-10" >
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< select id = "word-list" class = "form-control custom-select" name = "list" >
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< option value = "small" > 2048 words (11 bits/word)< / option >
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< option value = "medium" > 4096 words (12 bits/word)< / option >
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< option value = "large" selected > 8192 words (13 bits/word)< / option >
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< / select >
< / div >
< / div >
< div class = "form-group row" >
< label for = "word-count" class = "col-sm-2 col-form-label" > Word Count< / label >
< div class = "col-sm-10" >
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< input id = "word-count" class = "form-control" type = "number" name = "count" value = "4" min = "1" >
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< / div >
< / div >
< div class = "form-group row" >
< div class = "pt-0 col-sm-2 col-form-label" > Options< / div >
< div class = "col-sm-10" >
< div class = "form-check" >
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< input class = "form-check-input" type = "checkbox" id = "use-capitalize" name = "capitalize" >
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< label for = "use-capitalize" > Capitalize the first letter< / label >
< / div >
< div class = "form-check" >
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< input class = "form-check-input" type = "checkbox" id = "use-symbol" name = "symbol" >
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< label for = "use-symbol" > Add a symbol< / label >
< / div >
< div class = "form-check" >
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< input class = "form-check-input" type = "checkbox" id = "use-digit" name = "digit" >
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< label for = "use-digit" > Add a digit< / label >
< / div >
< / div >
< / div >
< div >
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< button class = "btn btn-lg my-1 btn-primary" id = "run-generator" > Generate< / button >
< button class = "btn btn-lg my-1 btn-success" id = "save-settings" > Save Settings< / button >
< button class = "btn btn-lg my-1 btn-danger" id = "clear-settings" > Clear Settings< / button >
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< / div >
< / form >
< / div >
< / div >
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< div class = "container mb-5" id = "idea" >
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< h3 class = "mb-3" > The Idea< / h3 >
< p class = "lead" > We tend to associate secure passwords with complicated and hard-to-remember passwords. But it
doesn't have to be this way.< / p >
< p > We make password difficult to guess by increasing < em > entropy< / em > — the degree of uncertainty in the
password. The higher the entropy, the harder it is to guess the password.< / p >
< p > One way of increasing entropy is to make passwords more complicated. Another way is to make the password
longer, but keeping it simple, as the following xkcd comic shows:< / p >
< a class = "d-block" href = "https://xkcd.com/936/"
title="To anyone who understands information theory and security and is in an infuriating argument with someone who does not (possibly involving mixed case), I sincerely apologize.">
< figure class = "figure border rounded p-4 bg-light" >
< img class = "figure-img img-fluid d-block mx-auto" src = "https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/password_strength.png"
alt="xkcd comic about password strength">
< figcaption class = "figure-caption" > To anyone who understands information theory and security and is in an
infuriating argument with someone who does not (possibly involving mixed case), I sincerely apologize.
< / figcaption >
< / figure >
< / a >
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< p > The core idea is that while using a single dictionary as a password is horribly insecure and can be cracked in
seconds, each additional word makes cracking exponentially harder.< / p >
< p > There is a lot of criticism on the internet about this password scheme. However, most of them fail to get the
actual point. There are also claims that < code > correcthorsebatterystaple< / code > is as secure as a 9 character
password, which sounds fairly bad. This is true if your 9 character password is truly random, such as
< code > n98idhi3n< / code > , and not say, < code > Tr0ub4d0r< / code > . The point is that,
< code > correcthorsebatterystaple< / code > is more memorable than < code > n98idhi3n< / code > , for approximately equal
security. To increase security, we can always add more words.< / p >
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< p class = "lead" > < span class = "mark" > 5 words from the large list< / span > , or < span class = "mark" > 6 words
from the small list< / span > is sufficient for all reasonable threats.< / p >
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< p > Let us consider the absolute worst case, assuming the attacker knows your password is generated by this site,
knowing that it has 65 bits of entropy, your password was insecurely hashed, and your enemy has GPUs to run
< span class = "mark" > 500 billion attempts every second< / span > . Even then, this scheme will resist the
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cracking attempt for < em > over a year< / em > .< / p >
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< p > You don't have to worry about this hypothetical scenario. Running this sort of attack is prohibitively expensive.
Unless you possess highly valuable secrets that makes this sort of effort worthwhile, in which case you should be
using stuff more complex than a password to protect it. If you have to, you can simply add more words.< / p >
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< p class = "lead" > In practice, most real life systems use secure password hashing algorithms, captchas, and other
mechanisms to stop password cracking. It is unlikely that your attacker can reach anywhere close to a million
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guesses a second, and so a < span class = "mark" > four word password< / span > (from the large list) is probably sufficient
in real life. If you are paranoid and want to feel better, use five.< / p >
< / div >
< div class = "container mb-5" id = "faq" >
< h3 class = "mb-3" > Frequently Asked Questions< / h3 >
< div class = "card" >
< div class = "card-body" >
< h5 class = "card-title" > Why did you make this website?< / h5 >
< p class = "card-text" >
I made this website because I wanted a good password generator. I know the xkcd-style password scheme is fairly
secure and easy to remember, especially if you increase the length, and it's simple enough to understand and
verify. Most programmers can audit the source code of this website to ensure security.
< / p >
< p class = "card-text" >
Another major part of the reason is that a lot of the similar websites fail to generate passwords securely: for
example, they used < code > Math.random()< / code > , which is not a cryptographically secure random number generator,
and should never be used to passwords. This website aims to avoid such pitfalls, and provide a truly secure
experience.
< / p >
< / div >
< / div >
< div class = "card" >
< div class = "card-body" >
< h5 class = "card-title" > Why is this site more secure than alternatives?< / h5 >
< ol >
< li > I have a large list of 8192 words.< / li >
< li > I use < a href = "https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Crypto/getRandomValues" >
< code > window.crypto.getRandomValues()< / code > < / a > — the only cryptographically-secure random number
generator in JavaScript, instead of
< a href = "https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Math/random" >
< code > Math.random()< / code > < / a > , whose use is explicitly discouraged for this purporse.
< / li >
< / ol >
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< h5 class = "card-title" > Bruce Schneier says this password scheme is broken. Is it?< / h5 >
< p class = "card-text" >
Bruce Schneier completely missed the point:
< / p >
< blockquote class = "blockquote" >
< p class = "card-text" > Modern password crackers combine different words from their dictionaries:< / p >
< p class = "card-text" > … < / p >
< p class = "card-text" > This is why the oft-cited XKCD scheme for generating passwords -- string together
individual words like "correcthorsebatterystaple" -- is no longer good advice. The password crackers are on to
this trick.< / p >
< footer class = "blockquote-footer" > Bruce Schneier, < cite title = "Source Title" > < a
href="https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/03/choosing_secure_1.html" rel="nofollow">Choosing Secure
Passwords< / a > < / cite > < / footer >
< / blockquote >
< p class = "card-text" >
Excuse me, Bruce, but the entropy calculation for this password scheme is based on the absolute worst case
scenario: that the attackers knows exactly which words you have to choose from, and attempts to guess every
possible combinations from the known dictionary.
< / p >
< p class = "card-text" >
In essence, we are assuming the attacker is < em > more than< / em > “ on to this trick” already. Whether
attackers are “ on to this trick” is completely therefore irrelevant to its security. If Bruce
Schneier thinks using four words is insufficiently secure, he should be suggesting five or six words, not
< strong > shamelessly promoting his own password generation scheme< / strong > .
< / p >
< p class = "card-text" >
If you don't believe me, that okay. Lots of other people agree with me. Check out
< a href = "https://security.stackexchange.com/q/62832/103593" > this post on the Information Security Stack
Exchange< / a > . The top four answers (by a huge margin) agree with me.< / p >
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