Which password cracking attack functions

GPU processing is used for analytics, engineering, and other computing-intensive applications. Hackers using this method can crack passwords about times faster than a CPU alone. So, how long would it take to crack a password? To put it in perspective, a six-character password that includes numbers has approximately 2 billion possible combinations.

Cracking it with a powerful CPU that tries 30 passwords per second takes more than two years. Adding a single, powerful GPU card lets the same computer test 7, passwords per second and crack the password in 3. To keep yourself and your network safe, you'll want to take your precautions and help others do so as well. User behavior and network security systems will both need reinforcement. High encryption rates: to make it harder for brute force attacks to succeed, system administrators should ensure that passwords for their systems are encrypted with the highest encryption rates possible, such as bit encryption.

The more bits in the encryption scheme, the harder the password is to crack. Salt the hash: administrators should also randomize password hashes by adding a random string of letters and numbers called salt to the password itself.

This string should be stored in a separate database and retrieved and added to the password before it's hashed. By salting the hash, users with the same password have different hashes. Two-factor authentication 2FA : additionally, administrators can require two-step authentication and install an intrusion detection system that detects brute force attacks.

This requires users to follow-up a login attempt with a second factor, like a physical USB key or fingerprint biometrics scan. Limit number of login re-tries: limiting the number of attempts also reduces susceptibility to brute-force attacks.

For example, allowing three attempts to enter the correct password before locking out the user for several minutes can cause significant delays and cause hackers to move on to easier targets. Account lockdown after excessive login attempts: if a hacker can endlessly keep retrying passwords even after a temporary lockout, they can return to try again.

Locking the account and requiring the user to contact IT for an unlock will deter this activity. Short lockout timers are more convenient for users, but convenience can be a vulnerability.

To balance this, you might consider using the long-term lockdown if there are excessive failed logins after the short one. Once a login fails, a timer can deny login until a short amount of time has passed.

This will leave lag-time for your real-time monitoring team to spot and work on stopping this threat. Some hackers might stop trying if the wait is not worth it. Regardless of what you use, you can use this before the first login and after each failed attempt to protect further.

Use an IP denylist to block known attackers. Be sure that this list is constantly updated by those who manage it. Password education: user behavior is essential to password security. Educate users on safe practices and tools to help them keep track of their passwords. Since users tend to compromise their safety for the sake of convenience, be sure to help them put convenient tools in their hands that will keep them safe.

Watch accounts in real-time for strange activity: Odd login locations, excessive login attempts etc. Work to find trends in unusual activity and take measures to block any potential attackers in real-time. Look out for IP address blocks, account lockdown, and contact users to determine if account activity is legitimate if it looks suspicious. As a user, you can do a lot to support your protection in the digital world.

The best defense against password attacks is ensuring that your passwords are as strong as they can be. Brute force attacks rely on time to crack your password. So, your goal is to make sure your password slows down these attacks as much as possible, because if it takes too long for the breach to be worthwhile… most hackers will give up and move on. Here are a few ways you can strength passwords against brute attacks:. Longer passwords with varied character types. When possible, users should choose character passwords that include symbols or numerals.

Doing so creates Using a GPU processor that tries Although, a supercomputer could crack it within a few weeks. By this logic, including more characters makes your password even harder to solve.

It is a remote password cracking tool that only supports Windows OS. It is freely available and can support multi-authentication protocols.

What makes it unique is its ability to add custom modules to the pack. Much like Brutus, Wfuzz also uses a brute force guessing attack to crack passwords. It can also find hidden directories, servlets and scripts, apart from identifying injection vulnerabilities.

Medusa is a speedy password-cracking tool. It can run simultaneous attacks and try up to passwords a minute on a local system. Its speed goes up with the availability of better computing power.

But this tool does require some level of command-line knowledge. It is not enough to have a strong password. Weak passwords not only expose you to identity theft but also leave you exposed to ransomware attacks. There are some rules that you should keep in mind while creating a password.

To learn more about how to create strong passwords, read here. Password cracking is a real threat that people often underestimate. Their laxity points to a serious vulnerability in most systems.

Hackers can leverage this laxity with even the most basic password cracking tools. The best way to stay safe is to create a secure password and recycle it regularly. P: Email Us. Search Site. Thank you for contacting us. One of our expert consultants will review your inquiry.

Thank You We hope you find this resource helpful. One of our expert consultants will contact you within 48 hours. Almost There! You certainly will always need to change your password, and sometimes more urgently than you think, but mitigating against theft is a great way to stay on top of your account security. You can always head to www. Read carefully and learn what to mitigate against. A phishing email leads the unsuspecting reader to a spoofed log in page associated with whatever service it is the hacker wants to access, usually by requesting the user to put right some terrible problem with their security.

That page then skims their password and the hacker can go use it for their own purpose. Why bother going to the trouble of cracking the password when the user will happily give it to you anyway? A favorite of the social engineer is to call an office posing as an IT security tech guy and simply ask for the network access password. Some even have the necessary gonads to don a suit and name badge before walking into a business to ask the receptionist the same question face to face.

Malware comes in many forms, such as a keylogger, also known as a screen scraper, which records everything you type or takes screenshots during a login process, and then forwards a copy of this file to hacker central.

The dictionary attack uses a simple file containing words that can be found in a dictionary, hence its rather straightforward name. In other words, this attack uses exactly the kind of words that many people use as their password. In the most straightforward way possible, you can boil a rainbow table down into a list of pre-computed hashes — the numerical value used when encrypting a password. This table contains hashes of all possible password combinations for any given hashing algorithm.

Rainbow tables are attractive as it reduces the time needed to crack a password hash to simply just looking something up in a list.