HOW TO Password Cracking
Before we get into cracking passwords with programs, I will explain a
couple old-fashioned ways to obtain someone’s password.
• Social Engineering – Social engineering is when a hacker takes
advantage of trusting human beings to get information from them.
For example, if the hacker was trying to get the password for a co-
workers computer, he (Even though I use “he”, hackers are of both
genders, and I just chose to use “he” in these examples.) could call
the co-worker pretending to be from the IT department. The
conversation could be something like:
Bob- “Hello Suzy. My name is Bob and I’m from the IT
department. We are currently attempting to install a new
security update on your computer, but we can’t seem to
connect to the user database and extract your user
information. Would you mind helping me out and letting me
know your password before my boss starts breathing down my
neck? It’s one of those days, ya’ know?”
Suzy would probably feel bad for Bob and let him know her password
without any hesitation. BAM! She got social engineered. Now the
hacker can do whatever he pleases with her account.
• Shoulder surfing – Shoulder surfing is exactly what it sounds like. The
hacker would simply attempt to look over your shoulder as you type
in your password. The hacker may also watch weather you glance
around your desk, looking for a written reminder or the written
password itself.
• Guessing – If you use a weak password, a hacker could simple guess
it by using the information he knows about you. Some examples of
34this are: date of birth, phone number, favorite pet, and other simple
things like these.
Now that we have the simple low-tech password cracking techniques
out of the way, let’s explore some high-tech techniques. Some of the
programs I will use in my examples may be blocked by your anti-virus
programs when you attempt to run them. Make sure you disable your anti-
virus program when you decide to download and explore them.
There are different ways a hacker can go about cracking a password.
Below I will explain and give an example of each way.