Password Cracking Techniques

Password cracking is the process of recovering passwords from the data transmitted by a computer system or from the data stored in it. The purpose of cracking a password might be to help a user recover a forgotten or lost password, as a preventive measure by system administrators to check for easily breakable passwords, or for use by an attacker to gain unauthorized system access.

Hacking often begins with password-cracking attempts. A password is a key piece of information necessary to access a system. Consequently, most attackers use password-cracking techniques to gain unauthorized access. An attacker may either crack a password manually by guessing it or use automated tools and techniques such as a dictionary or a brute-force method. Most password-cracking techniques are successful because of weak or easily guessable passwords.

Types of Password Attacks

• Dictionary Attack: In this type of attack, a dictionary file is loaded into a cracking application that runs against user accounts. This dictionary is a text file that contains several dictionary words commonly used as passwords. The program uses every word present in the dictionary to find the password.
  Brute-Force Attack: In a brute-force attack, attackers try every combination of characters until the password is broken.
• Rule-based Attack: Attackers use this type of attack when they obtain some information about the password. This is a more powerful attack than dictionary and brute-force attacks because the cracker knows the password type. For example, if the attacker knows that the password contains a two- or three-digit number, he/she can use some specific techniques to extract the password quickly.

Password Cracking Techniques Covered in this Learning Path:

• SSH Password Cracking
• Telnet password cracking
• SMB Password Cracking
• FTP Password Cracking
• ZIP Password Cracking
• Password Hash Cracking
• WinRM Password Cracking