Developer creates tool that transforms boring security keys into pretty ASCII art

Imagine if your house key could display a tiny work of art every time you used it. That's essentially what Victor Villas has achieved with computer security keys, turning a standard technical tool into something visually pleasing.

When you connect to a remote computer securely (like accessing a website's server), you use something called an SSH key. Usually, these patterns look like random scattered symbols, about as artistic as spilled alphabet soup.

As Villas says on his Github repository for the python script: "Want to find an SSH key with a specific hash visualization pattern? If so, then this is the tool for you. If not, just don't make me SSH into your servers with their ugly-ass keys."

But Villas's script lets you design your own pattern, similar to creating pixel art.

You can visualize your existing keys with the following command:

ssh-keygen -lv -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub


It's probably gibberish, as expected from all the randomness involved. My original key looked like this:

Good Looking Public Keys

Once visualization is introduced, so is aesthetics. This feature presents a great opportunity to fight against truly random key generation in order to trade security for arbitrary human desires.

For example, I wanted a key that looked like this:

In order to get it, draw the desired end state on the keys/E.art and then start the artist creative process with
./ssh-artist


and kill the artist when patience is depleted.

This artistic approach trades a small bit of security for aesthetics — like choosing a slightly weaker lock because it looks prettier. However, for many users, the trade-off is worth it for the sheer joy of seeing their custom design instead of random characters.

Previously:
• All versions of Openssh share a critical vulnerability, including embedded code that will never be updated
• Watch brute force hacking attempts fail in realtime