Windows is the most common desktop platform currently in use. As a result, it is not uncommon for hackers to encounter a Windows password that they need to crack in order to gain access to a specific account on a machine or move laterally throughout the network.
With NTLM, cracking Windows passwords is more difficult but still possible. NTLM is weaker than modern algorithms because it is based on the MD4 cipher. While it has been replaced by Kerberos for network authentication, NTLM is still used for saving passwords locally in the Windows SAM file.
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Since the Windows hash function is based on the weak MD4 algorithm, cracking these passwords is often easier than those protected by an equivalent modern cipher. Cracking a Windows password hash is a three-step process:
Most people use extremely weak passwords. The average person probably uses a dictionary word with common substitutions (0 for O, 4 for A and so on) and potentially a special character and a couple of numbers tacked onto the end. A password cracking tool with a standard English dictionary can crack these passwords without any difficulty.
While this may have been secure in the past, it can now be defeated by a hacker with access to the right hardware and software. In February 2019, the team building hashcat stated that the tool can be used to search the entire space of eight-character passwords in about 2.5 hours. Since most users will choose the minimum length when creating a password (especially when capitals, lowercase, numbers and special characters may be required by configuration), this means that these passwords can be cracked in a few hours.
Dictionary and brute-force attacks make tradeoffs between speed and guarantee of success. Most tools also support a hybrid attack mode which performs a dictionary attack first and then switches to a brute-force attack if unsuccessful. A lot of subject-matter expertise and optimization goes into these tools, making them extremely effective at password cracking.
The best way to create a strong password is to use a password manager, which randomizes and stores your passwords for you. You can also use passphrases and a combination of capital letters, numbers, and special characters to protect your password against cracking and other hacking attempts.
If you like using standard words for your passwords, string a few together into a passphrase. Using this technique allows you to create strong password examples that can stump many dictionary attacks. The words in your passphrase must be completely random, or else password cracking software may be able to guess what they are.
On average, it takes a hacker about two seconds to crack an 11-character password that uses only numbers. Throw in some upper- and lower-case letters, and it will take a hacker one minute to hack into a seven-character password.
Cybercriminals use sophisticated software that can run thousands of password combinations a minute, and their tools are only getting better. A general rule is that your password should be at least 11 characters and use numbers, along with upper and lowercase letters. That combination will take hackers 41 years to crack.
According to the tool, the shorter your password, the easier it is guessed. Even if you use all the possible variations. Use eight characters and it will be cracked in hours. Seven characters will be breached in minutes, and six or fewer characters will take mere seconds.
As the chart indicates, to prevent a successful brute force attack on your password, you should have at least 10 characters that use the full range of options. Anything shorter than that, and it will only take a few days to crack.
If you are unsure whether your passwords are strong enough, check out the How Secure Is My Password? tool. By putting in some of your passwords, the system will tell you how long it will take a hacker to crack.
A password-cracking expert has unveiled a computer cluster that can cycle through as many as 350 billion guesses per second. It's an almost unprecedented speed that can try every possible Windows passcode in the typical enterprise in less than six hours.
The Linux-based GPU cluster runs the Virtual OpenCL cluster platform, which allows the graphics cards to function as if they were running on a single desktop computer. ocl-Hashcat Plus, a freely available password-cracking suite optimized for GPU computing, runs on top, allowing the machine to tackle at least 44 other algorithms at near-unprecedented speeds. In addition to brute-force attacks, the cluster can bring that speed to cracks that use a variety of other techniques, including dictionary attacks containing millions of words.
The speeds apply to so-called offline cracks, in which password lists are retrieved by hackers who exploit vulnerabilities on website or network servers. The passwords are typically stored using one-way cryptographic hash functions, which generate a unique string of characters for each unique string of plaintext. In theory, hashes can't be mathematically reversed. The only way to crack them is to run guesses through the same cryptographic function. When the output of a particular guess matches a hash in a compromised list, the corresponding password has been cracked.
The advent of GPU computing over the past decade has contributed to huge boosts in offline password cracking. But until now, limitations imposed by computer motherboards, BIOS systems, and ultimately software drivers limited the number of graphics cards running on a single computer to eight. Gosney's breakthrough is the result of using VCL virtualization, which spreads larger numbers of cards onto a cluster of machines while maintaining the ability for them to function as if they're on a single computer.
For the time being, readers should assume that the vast majority of their passwords are hashed with fast algorithms. That means passwords should never be less than nine characters, and using 13 or even 20 characters offers even better security. But long passwords aren't enough. Given the prevalence of cracking lists measured in the hundreds of millions, it's also crucial that passwords not be names, words, or common phrases. One easy way to make sure a passcode isn't contained in such lists is to choose a text string that's randomly generated using Password Safe or another password management program.
The second step is to stop using the same passwords for multiple sites. If one site gets hacked, your password will be exposed to the internet. A hacker can then use the email/password combination to test your credentials across other sites. You can check if your password is on the internet here.
The final step would be to generate random passwords and use a password manager. There are a variety of options including the Chrome built-in Google password manager. If you use a strong password for each site you use, it becomes extremely hard to crack your password.
Today, there is much third-party software available, which can reset BIOS passwords, but access to the Operating System is necessary. Some of the popular BIOS password cracking software is used like CmosPwd and Kiosk.
This makes the 16 character, letters-only password (91 bits) 8 million times harder to guess than the 12-character (68 bits) one, while the 12-character password with numbers (71 bits) is only eight times harder to crack than the letters-only one.
A four-word passphrase (56 bits) is strong enough for the password that you use to log into 1Password because we hash it well. We estimate that it would cost an attacker about $76 million USD to crack that.
One of the benefits of using properly generated passwords is that we can know exactly how strong they are. The passwords maintain their strength even when the attacker knows precisely how they were generated. This is the opposite of many of the clever schemes that people come up with for creating passwords.
In cryptanalysis and computer security, password cracking is the process of recovering passwords[1] from data that has been stored in or transmitted by a computer system in scrambled form. A common approach (brute-force attack) is to repeatedly try guesses for the password and to check them against an available cryptographic hash of the password.[2] Another type of approach is password spraying, which is often automated and occurs slowly over time in order to remain undetected, using a list of common passwords.[3]
The purpose of password cracking might be to help a user recover a forgotten password (due to the fact that installing an entirely new password would involve System Administration privileges), to gain unauthorized access to a system, or to act as a preventive measure whereby system administrators check for easily crackable passwords. On a file-by-file basis, password cracking is utilized to gain access to digital evidence to which a judge has allowed access, when a particular file's permissions restricted.
The time to crack a password is related to bit strength .mw-parser-output div.crossreferencepadding-left:0.mw-parser-output .hatnotefont-style:italic.mw-parser-output div.hatnotepadding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em.mw-parser-output .hatnote ifont-style:normal.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnotemargin-top:-0.5em(see Password cracking), which is a measure of the password's entropy, and the details of how the password is stored. Most methods of password cracking require the computer to produce many candidate passwords, each of which is checked. One example is brute-force cracking, in which a computer tries every possible key or password until it succeeds. With multiple processors, this time can be optimized through searching from the last possible group of symbols and the beginning at the same time, with other processors being placed to search through a designated selection of possible passwords.[4] More common methods of password cracking, such as dictionary attacks, pattern checking, word list substitution, etc. attempt to reduce the number of trials required and will usually be attempted before brute force. Higher password bit strength exponentially increases the number of candidate passwords that must be checked, on average, to recover the password and reduces the likelihood that the password will be found in any cracking dictionary.[5] 2ff7e9595c
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