6 ms·

Well, I do it a lot. I do consulting in IT security and go through the onboarding process of a different company 15 times a year. My customers and co-workers a

Well, I do it a lot. I do consulting in IT security and go through the onboarding process of a different company 15 times a year. My customers and co-workers are often security conscious and sometimes give me passwords like RC-A"c\EJe,0l@q. I prefer the US layout but live in Germany, so there is often a mismatch between my physical keyboard and the system I'm typing on, which causes me great frustration. Typing in the LUKS password of a VMware machine via vSphere web console does not allow copy/paste, neither does logging in to a physical device provided by the customer. I realize I'm far from a typical use case, which is why I'm so glad when people consider password ergonomics. It makes life easier for me and does not make it harder for anyone else.

butlike 2y ago
1?Z-2>@.#x3O0_l^,fNO%0o Your comment was interesting to me, so I was trying to come up with the most "ergonomically unsound" password. How did I do?
- ziddoap 2y ago
  Add a double space somewhere, and append single space to the end just to be safe.
  - mr_mitm 2y ago
    Maybe there is a single space at the end. No way to know. Well done, GP.
- encom 2y ago
  Just have Keepass pick from the extended ASCII set Å`÷½¸Å^çÏ+Í?«~Ðñø'`¾
  - svieira 2y ago
    I see you, and I raise you ĮǶľƶₔâ¾ĳĤĬďÂ©¦ıęśĳ²ÔķÕĜ́北¹«ƶħĸ«
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - EasyMark 2y ago
    well I want to have some chance at typing it in if I absolutely must...
aftbit 2y ago
I do something like this surprisingly often when dealing with iDRAC/IPMI/etc: sleep 3; xdotool type "abc123"
- rkeene2 2y ago
  When I was doing that a lot I just patched my VNC client to send the keys for the data in the clipboard on "paste" so I could use its native "paste" command
- didsomeonesay 2y ago
  .. and now the password is stored unencrypted in your bash history.
  - aftbit 2y ago
    That's a feature, not a bug. :P Alright if you prefer: read PW; sleep 3; xdotool type "$PW" Or if it's already on your clipboard: sleep 3; xdotool type "$(xclip -o)"
  - mmh0000 2y ago
    Use the `read` method the other poster said, or ensure HISTCONTROL is set and then prepend a space to commands that contain secrets. $ export HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth $ echo 'supersecret' | whatever
  - bombela 2y ago
    Prefix any command with a space and bash won't append to the history.
    - gruturo 2y ago
      Careful that's only true if you set HISTCONTROL to "ignorespace" or "ignoreboth".
      - bombela 2y ago
        Which seems the default in my anecdotal experience on debian/Ubuntu. It is also the default on fish shell in the same anecdotal experience.
mmh0000 2y ago
This is an easily solved problem through both software and hardware. If you are frequently typing complex passwords, consider some alternatives: Software typing of password: Linux - ydotool / xdotool. Win/Mac have similar tools: $ sleep 5 ; xdotool type 'RC-A"c\EJe,0l@q' >> physical device provided by the customer. Hardware : Rubber Ducky - https://shop.hak5.org/products/usb-rubber-ducky https://shop.hak5.org/products/usb-rubber-ducky
School-Cotton 2y ago
I would simply save that into 1password and never have to type it or remember it ever again. In your obscure set of requirements (no paste?), yes you might have to copy it again, but at least you don't have to remember it.

butlike 2y ago

1?Z-2>@.#x3O0_l^,fNO%0o Your comment was interesting to me, so I was trying to come up with the most "ergonomically unsound" password. How did I do?

ziddoap 2y ago
Add a double space somewhere, and append single space to the end just to be safe.
- mr_mitm 2y ago
  Maybe there is a single space at the end. No way to know. Well done, GP.
encom 2y ago
Just have Keepass pick from the extended ASCII set Å`÷½¸Å^çÏ+Í?«~Ðñø'`¾
- svieira 2y ago
  I see you, and I raise you ĮǶľƶₔâ¾ĳĤĬďÂ©¦ıęśĳ²ÔķÕĜ́北¹«ƶħĸ«
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- EasyMark 2y ago
  well I want to have some chance at typing it in if I absolutely must...

aftbit 2y ago

I do something like this surprisingly often when dealing with iDRAC/IPMI/etc: sleep 3; xdotool type "abc123"

rkeene2 2y ago
When I was doing that a lot I just patched my VNC client to send the keys for the data in the clipboard on "paste" so I could use its native "paste" command
didsomeonesay 2y ago
.. and now the password is stored unencrypted in your bash history.
- aftbit 2y ago
  That's a feature, not a bug. :P Alright if you prefer: read PW; sleep 3; xdotool type "$PW" Or if it's already on your clipboard: sleep 3; xdotool type "$(xclip -o)"
- mmh0000 2y ago
  Use the `read` method the other poster said, or ensure HISTCONTROL is set and then prepend a space to commands that contain secrets. $ export HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth $ echo 'supersecret' | whatever
- bombela 2y ago
  Prefix any command with a space and bash won't append to the history.
  - gruturo 2y ago
    Careful that's only true if you set HISTCONTROL to "ignorespace" or "ignoreboth".
    - bombela 2y ago
      Which seems the default in my anecdotal experience on debian/Ubuntu. It is also the default on fish shell in the same anecdotal experience.

mmh0000 2y ago

This is an easily solved problem through both software and hardware. If you are frequently typing complex passwords, consider some alternatives: Software typing of password: Linux - ydotool / xdotool. Win/Mac have similar tools: $ sleep 5 ; xdotool type 'RC-A"c\EJe,0l@q' >> physical device provided by the customer. Hardware : Rubber Ducky - https://shop.hak5.org/products/usb-rubber-ducky https://shop.hak5.org/products/usb-rubber-ducky

School-Cotton 2y ago

I would simply save that into 1password and never have to type it or remember it ever again. In your obscure set of requirements (no paste?), yes you might have to copy it again, but at least you don't have to remember it.