Using meta-password generated by AutoHotkey - is it safe in case of any software upgrades?

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A Keymaker
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Using meta-password generated by AutoHotkey - is it safe in case of any software upgrades?

Post by A Keymaker » 28 Feb 2023, 16:09

I came up with a simple trick for storing and pasting of an extra long gibberish-like passwords: [long story short*] in one AHK file I have defined a combination of keys that when they are pressed they execute reading of another AHK file, in which second file stored is what you can see on this image below in line #1

Image

which when it is pasted by AutoHotkey script gets turned into this what is visible in line #3. The source gibberish becomes longer, has some signs in its replaced with others while some other signs are replaced with substitutes like DCS, HTS, HOP, NBH [and probably also others]


But what happens if I move from my current Windows 10 machine with this second AHK file [hosting this gibberish from line #1] to another computer, which might have the same AutoHotkey version installed and the same AHK editor which I use now- but will have also a different set of system fonts? Or even be running on some other operating system?

Is it then possible that such replacements in this AHK file like this DCS thing will be then automatically re-replaced back to proper signs? And the other way around: i.e. is it to be expected, that the now "proper" signs that look the same [and are placed in the same place] in line #1 and #3 will be replaced with some substitutes on the account of this this new environment lacking some fonts that I have and use today? And / or it is also possible that such changes will occur on the account of Windows 11 [or Windows 12] reading / writing them down them differently?

If yes, some changes are to be expected, then this simple "algorithm" based trick has a huge risk of making the database file inaccessible / unrecoverable? Because it will work in the same way, thus generate the same password, only when the exact same settings are recreated, right? Because without them the "algorithm" will changes itself- thus second version of password it creates; right? Already when I was writing this post, I noticed that those two gibberish lines look differently in SciTE4AutoHotkey, Thunderbird [in e-mail], Firefox [in post-a-new-topic window], Notepad2, Notepad3 etc. [thus I decided to paste in as a JPG instead of text]


[* My password system has also other safety features, which discussing here would be rather both off-topic and to exposing my safety]
Last edited by A Keymaker on 04 Jul 2023, 05:38, edited 2 times in total.

swagfag
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Re: Using meta-password generated by AutoHotkey - is it safe in case of any software upgrades?

Post by swagfag » 28 Feb 2023, 17:07

at the end of the day what u have is a sequence of bytes(ie line1 on ur screenshot) that u read into an ahk script. the ahk script then does some transformations and writes out another, different sequence of bytes(ie line3 on ur screenshot)
it doesnt matter what the text looks like when u open it in SciTE4AutoHotkey, Thunderbird [in e-mail], Firefox [in post-a-new-topic window], Notepad2, Notepad3 because the underlying sequence of bytes is all the same. the text could render differently if another encoding was selected in ur editor. it could also look differently if another fonttype had been selected - u could have a font that interprets the byte 0x65, which would normally be a capital A, as a poop emoji instead
A Keymaker wrote: it is also possible that such changes will occur on the account of Windows 11 [or Windows 12] reading / writing them down them differently?
if the transformations ure doing depend on some windows APIs and the output of these APIs changes in a future windows version, then yeah, obviously the output would be different

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A Keymaker
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Re: Using meta-password generated by AutoHotkey - is it safe in case of any software upgrades?

Post by A Keymaker » 28 Feb 2023, 18:00

swagfag wrote:
28 Feb 2023, 17:07
[...]
windows APIs and the output of these APIs changes in a future windows version, then yeah, obviously the output would be different
You mean Windows' APIs as in APIs of the Windows operating system - or some sub-windows of some programs?

swagfag
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Re: Using meta-password generated by AutoHotkey - is it safe in case of any software upgrades?

Post by swagfag » 28 Feb 2023, 18:42

there is only 1 interpretation and its the former

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A Keymaker
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Re: Using meta-password generated by AutoHotkey - is it safe in case of any software upgrades?

Post by A Keymaker » 13 Mar 2023, 07:46

swagfag wrote:
28 Feb 2023, 17:07
[...]
it doesnt matter what the text looks like when u open it in SciTE4AutoHotkey, Thunderbird [in e-mail], Firefox [in post-a-new-topic window], Notepad2, Notepad3 because the underlying sequence of bytes is all the same. the text could render differently if another encoding was selected in ur editor. it could also look differently if another fonttype had been selected
[...]
But if the only caveat is
swagfag wrote:
28 Feb 2023, 17:07
if the transformations ure doing depend on some windows APIs and the output of these APIs changes in a future windows version, then yeah, obviously the output would be different
then why, despite not updating system in-between, I am unable to copy the whole password from a TXT, written down temporarily in it when using be it in Notepad or Notepad2?

When I paste in the password from AHK to database program- it works. But when I paste it from AHK to TXT and then copy it from TXT to database- it does not work [i.e. wrong password error appears]. The same happens if I use e-mail in Thunderbird instead of TXT file. And for this TXT file and AHK source I have checked, if the have the same encoding set [UTF-8]

Heck: even if I paste it from AHK source file to the very same AHK file and then copy this effect from it to that database [i.e. I select and copy line #3 from he screenshot]- it also does not work

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A Keymaker
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Re: Using meta-password generated by AutoHotkey - is it safe in case of any software upgrades?

Post by A Keymaker » 09 Jun 2023, 08:02

Heck #2:

when I paste in my very long and complex password to the very program it is destined for using my AHK script when being full-screen zoomed in with magnify.exe of Windows - then it is not exactly the same when I paste it with zoom se to 100% [i.e. with Magnifier being turned on but not utilizing its features]; as apparently some of the unusual signs get either lost or replaced with others
Last edited by A Keymaker on 04 Jul 2023, 05:41, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Using meta-password generated by AutoHotkey - is it safe in case of any software upgrades?

Post by teadrinker » 09 Jun 2023, 10:04

In my opinion, there is no point in using any extraordinary symbols in passwords. A combination of alphanumeric characters in different registers is quite enough.


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