Google Chrome app to calculate strong cryptographic passwords
Available on the Chrome Web Store
Passwords are calculated like this:
password = secret word + alias | SHA1 | Base64
You chose a single secret and an alias for the service the password is needed for. E.g:
mysecret + gmail.com
This is combined to a single string
mysecretgmail.com
Next the cryptographic hash function SHA1 is applied to this compound word. It produces a 160-bit hash value typically rendered as hexadecimal number:
5e63 2f05 760b 5563 a1d9 ad9e e555 540d 7c19 9c65
These 40 digits are then taken as (binary) input for the Base64 function which produces the password:
XmMv BXYL VWOh 2a2e 5VVU DXwZ nGU=
This unique password cannot by any means be traced back to the secret word or alias.
In plain Linux the password can be calculated like this:
echo -n "mysecretgmail.com" \
| sha1sum \
| xxd -r -p \
| base64
XmMvBXYLVWOh2a2e5VVUDXwZnGU=