apg: Pronounced, “ay-pee-jee”

A couple of weeks ago I pointed out a site that could check password strength, and calculate the maximum time it would take to crack it in a brute-force attack.

I hope you took the time to look at that page. It’s very enlightening. 😯

Since then I have wanted to take a look at apg, an automatic password generator.

On the surface, apg doesn’t do a whole lot that a dozen dozen websites don’t do as well.

apg’s strength, if you ask me, is in it’s flexibility and control. The average online utility that will scramble a few letters for you doesn’t have the same capacity for detail as apg.

Consider: These days, a lot of websites demand you use a capital letter in your password. Personally I find that annoying, but this isn’t about me.

apg lets you slant the generator to produce a password that does have, somewhere in it, a capital letter.

And you can do the same for numbers, symbols, lowercase letters, and so forth.

apg will also give up pronounceable passwords, which I suppose could be less secure, but are probably a lot easier to remember.

Even better, apg will translate passwords into speakable fragments, like you see above. I’m not sure why that would be necessary, but it’s pretty cool.

apg is worth looking into, particularly if you’re an administrator who has to keep resetting passwords for forgetful staffers.

I mentioned one way to do it a few months ago; but really apg is probably better. 😐