Generating passwords with numbers that are still easy to type
I have a problem with the new system for generating passwords. The choice is now words or characters. Previously, when using characters, I could choose, "pronounceable", and separation with hyphens or numbers. Now, when I'm on a site that requires the use of letters and numbers, and sometimes other symbols or capital letters, I have no way of getting a password that remains easy to type. As it is, if I request a 12 character password with numbers I get something that is of mediocre strength and yet very hard to type. If I make it longer, it gets harder and harder to type. Of course, it is easy to copy and paste, but some sites won't let you paste the password. And it is precisely these sites that require the use of numbers and symbols.
So, am I the only one with this problem? If not, maybe I can hope for the reappearance of the previous choices in a future version. Otherwise, I'm wondering if generating a three or four word password and adding some "random" numbers or symbols in between would be a good idea to get around the problem. I'm worried that fiddling with the password that is generated will make it less secure.
1Password Version: 6.0.2
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: 10.11.3
Sync Type: Not Provided
Comments
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Hi @EllenH,
I'm sorry you aren't pleased about the new word-list generator replacing the old pronounceable generator! Thank you for taking the time to write to us about this, and for your explanation of how the pronounceable generator was useful for you.
You're not alone in missing the old style pronounceable generator. We've heard from other customers with similar feedback, and I'll be happy to forward yours to our developers as well. I can't guarantee if/when we might bring that feature back to the password generator, but our developers would really like to do something about it, since the word-list style generator doesn't seem to be working well as a replacement for everyone.
In case you're interested in reading more about why this was changed in the first place, one of our security gurus wrote an in-depth explanation in another forum discussion here: https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/comment/276861/#Comment_276861 (There's a lot of other good information in that thread as well.)
...it is easy to copy and paste, but some sites won't let you paste the password.
Is the 1Password extension unable to fill the username & password fields on those sites? I haven't personally run into many sites that can't be filled via the extension and also prevent pasting text into the fields, but it sounds like this might be a problem on a number of sites you use. If you have any examples of sites like that which you don't mind sharing, feel free to let us know the URLs and we'll take a look to see if there's anything we can do about that.
...I'm wondering if generating a three or four word password and adding some "random" numbers or symbols in between would be a good idea to get around the problem. I'm worried that fiddling with the password that is generated will make it less secure.
You can absolutely do that as a workaround - if the word-list password is strong to start with, adding a few extra numbers or symbols in order to meet the password requirements of the website shouldn't make it any less secure.
I'm sorry I don't have a better answer for you about all that, but hopefully this at least helps to explain things a bit. If you have more questions about that, please be sure to let us know. Cheers! :)
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Thank you for your reply.
I didn't say I wasn't pleased with the word-list generator. On the contrary, when it showed up in iOS, I was impatient to see it on the Mac. It's just that I do need another method on some sites and the only one available now is not optimal.
I just read the forum discussion you pointed to. It's very interesting and answers just about all my questions, and more. It also shows me that my experience is shared by many which I find, let's say, comforting.
If I find a site that won't let me paste the password, I'll try to remember to send it to you. I suppose I should send it by mail to someone, not clutter up the discussion forums.
Thanks again.
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You're very welcome, and I'm glad the forum discussion from my link was interesting & informative for you!
If I find a site that won't let me paste the password, I'll try to remember to send it to you. I suppose I should send it by mail to someone, not clutter up the discussion forums.
We're always happy to help on our discussion forums, but if you'd like to contact us by email, please feel free to do so at any time: support@agilebits.com
Take care, and let us know if you need anything else. :)
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I just found out about the change to the generated passwords as well. I used it specifically to meet our requirements for internal systems - every 90 days we have to choose a password, not dictionary based, with a mix of numbers and letters. This is a common sign-in, and some of the places where I have to use it I can have 1Password fill it in, but on others the type of prompt means I do have to type it. Also, some of the Linux systems require me to type this in manually from a Mac terminal for instance. What I used to do was set the parameters for length, digits, pronounceable etc. and then generate passwords until I found one I thought would pass the internal requirements and I could remember & type easily. I'd save that as my new 'WorkPass March 2016' for example. I'd really love to have the old generator back as an option - for most passwords I don't care what's in it and just have 1Password enter my strong password automagically, but this is a real pain point for me.
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I miss the the option to have numbers as separators from the old pronounceable password generator. It would be great if numbers would be an option when generating word passwords in the current version. I use my universities computers quite a lot, where I can't install 1Password. Since I can't access my logins from Dropbox anymore I find myself having to look up passwords on my iPhone and then enter them manually. For sites which require letters and numbers having numbers as separators would be great.
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Hi @sonyamamurin,
Thank you for your feedback about the password generator! I can certainly forward your request to our developers (although I can't make promises one way or the other about if/when that would be added).
For now, keep in mind that you can edit passwords in the Password Generator in 1Password mini before using them. So even though it won't use numbers automatically, you can put them in yourself if you want/need to. I know it's not as convenient as having the generator do that for you, but wanted to mention it in case it helps.
If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to let us know. Cheers! :)
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:+1: :)
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My feature request would be to add "Numbers" to the list of things that separate the words. Similarly, it would be nice to have a "Symbols and Numbers" variant (like silly-example3foo). Adding these 2 variants would make the Generate Passwords with words option meet a lot more site's password criteria.
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