Aspin: Filipino-centric Passphrase Generator

Aspin [ˈʔas.pɪn], short for Asong Pinoy, is a term used for mixed-breed street dogs.

Why create another passphrase generator?

I wanted to create a passphrase generator that focuses on Philippine dialects as its wordlists -- "mixing" words, separators, case, and others to generate a more secure passphrase. This passphrase generator has the generic features of specifying the word count, word case, and separator. In addition, it also supports character substitution, separator multiplier, and inclusion of randomized numbers and/or special characters. Furthermore, this allowed me to practice my Python skills and at the same time contribute to the information security knowledge body.

I also included a folder of my photographs to raise awareness to aspins.

Preview

Aspin can be used from the CLI or as a browser extension. When using the CLI, you can set all options either through command arguments or by entering its interactive mode.

aspin.py -l 5 -s * -sC 3 -N -S -c randomize -x a=@

Passphrase Generated:
@LPAS.2***P@glAL@IB/0***ItuWAD=8***sALIGWIl(5***SuGid,2

The above example looks very complicated, but this would be ideal if you need extra security. Specifying lesser arguments can result in a more memorable passphrase:

aspin.py -l 5 -s - -sC 3 -N -c capitalize

Passphrase Generated:
Mahigit9---Nakakabit6---Maulol1---Tukuyin9---Kalinga5

Usage and Available Arguments

You can run the -h option to display the list of available command-line arguments.

ASPIN [-h] [-l WORD_LENGTH] [-n GENERATE_NUMBER] [-s SEPARATOR] [-sC SEPARATOR_COUNT] [-N] [-S] [-c WORD_CASE] [-x SUBSTITUTION] [-w WORDLIST] [-wC WORDLIST_COMBINE] [-i]

Available Arguments

Below you will find the list of available options. Each of these options/arguments has their own default value, which will be used when unspecified. Alternatively, you can run interactive mode by specifying the -i option. Aspin will then display prompts for you to answer.

• -l or --WORDLENGTH : Specify an integer for the number of words in your passphrase. Default value is 5.
• n or --GENERATENUMBER : Specify an interger for the number of passphrases to generate. Default value is 1.
• -s or --SEPARATOR : Specify a separator character between each word in your passphrase. Default is a space.
• -sC or --SEPARATORCOUNT : Specify the number of separators between each word. Default value is 1.
• -N or --NUMBERS : Append numbers at the end of each word in your passphrase. Default value is False.
• -S or --SPECIALCHARS : Append special characters at the end of each word in your passphrase. Default value is False.
• -c or --WORD_CASE : Specify passphrase's word case.
• -x or --SUBSTITUTION : Specify a character substitution using the '>' symbol between your old and new character (e.g., l>!). Default value is None.
• -w or --WORDLIST : Specify the wordlist file location. Default is the tagalog.txt file.
• -wC or --WORDLISTCOMBINE : Specify another wordlist file location to combine with the current chosen wordlist. Default is None.
• -i or --INTERACTIVE : The program will ask for user inputs to generate the passphrase. Default value is False.

Word Case Options

• lowercase: All characters are in lowercase
• uppercase: All characters are in uppercase
• capitalize: Begining character of each word is in uppercase
• randomize: Random uppercase and lowercase on each word
• alternate: Alternate between lowercase and uppercase on each character.

Numbers and Special Characters

When specifying the -N or --NUMBERS argument, it will append a random number on each word. Similarly, when specifying -S or -SPECIALCHARS, it will also append a special character on each word.

Wordlists/Dictionaries

Aspin currently supports the following Filipino languages/dialects:

• Tagalog
• Hiligaynon
• Cebuano

The Filipino languages/dialects are all collected from Pinoy Dictionary (hxxps[://]www[.]pinoydictionary[.]com/) using a custom Bash script. The Bash script performs cURL operations and parses the HTML code for the dictionary entries. Then, another Bash script is used to clean up the raw dictionary text file -- removing any duplicates.

An english wordlist/dictionary is also available (this is the most common foreign language in the Philippines), which is from NSACyber's RandPassGenerator.

Browser Extension

The tool is also now available as a browser extension and was tested on Chrome-based browsers. Currently, it is not yet available on extension stores but you can install it locally by enabling Developer Mode then clicking the Load Unpacked and selecting the extension directory to install it manually to your browsers.

It has the same available options as its CLI counterpart, except for the ability to use your own custom wordlist/dictionary.

Supporting Aspins (and Puspins) in the Philippines

Please consider donating to various NGOs and volunteers focusing in rescuing Aspins and Puspins, such as:

• The Philippine Animal Welfare Sociaty (PAWS): https://paws.org.ph/donate/
• SCARA-Animal Rescuers & Adopters: https://www.facebook.com/Scaraanimalrescuersandadopter
• Pawssion Project: https://pawssionproject.org.ph/donate/
• Strays Worth Saving (SWS): https://www.facebook.com/straysworthsaving/
• BACH Project PH: https://www.facebook.com/bachprojectphilippines
• Community Animal Rescue Efforts (CARE): https://www.facebook.com/CAREbacolod
• Animal Kingdom Foundation (AFK): https://www.akfrescues.org/