Random Password

history ------- 1.2 December 8, 1999 - Bug fix, alert position on main screen not set. 1.1 December 4, 1999 - Added BNDL, not released. 1.0 December 1, 1999 - first version to InfoMac. It's hard to think up a password. Here's a random password generator based on the old diceware idea, but I use a PRNG to pick out candidates from the vocabulary list. Using dice to select one of 7776 words is perfectly random, but awfully tedious. This method gives you an instant password that looks exactly like you used diceware, with essentially the same level of "random"-ness. The program asks you to select a file using Standard Get File. Choose a file at least 64 megabytes in length, with randomized content. For example, a large encrypted Stuffit archive, or a large PGP Disk volume. Internally, both of these kinds of files look random -- in fact, they can't be compressed, usually a great indicator that their bit patterns are unavailable for analysis. The file is used to initialize a small additive congruential generator (see Knuth), which is used to select five words from Beale's vocabulary, the alternative list distributed at www.diceware.com.