This has been reposted from it's original at my new second blogging home at SensePost.

In my previous role working as a security manager for a large retailer, I developed some password tools for various purposes, primarily to help non-security people with some of the basics. I licensed them under the GPL, and I think it's about time they saw the light of day.

There are a couple of tools, which I will explain below. They're all written in JavaScript, primarily because it is cross-platform, but can be centrally hosted. They all work in Firefox and Internet Explorer, although the automatic copy to clipboard functionality of the service desk tool is IE only.

The intention is for the tools to be placed into your organisation's intranet somewhere. I found they came in much use, allowing me to reference a specific tool and setting rather than esoteric password theory in documents. For example, security standards documents would say "Service account passwords should either be generated by the password generator set to the service account setting, or be rated as "very strong" by the password strength checker", which is far more practical than quoting a list of password rules.

Being centrally hosted also allows updates to be made immediately in the case of a policy change, new common password addition, or bug. This also allowed web logs to provide an audit trail of who was using the tools. Particularly useful in the case of monitoring service desk activity e.g. If the service desk records 100 password resets, and the tool only saw 10 hits, you know something's up.

If you're a tactile learner, you can grab them here.

For years I've had a tinfoil dilemma. I know that companies trying to own the internet love dropping cookies, and then using those cookies to track you around the tubes. It started with the advertisers like DoubleClick who would drop their cookie, then rely on their distribution of banner ads. Every time your browser hit a page with one of their banner ads, it would send it's cookie along and help them track you around the internet.