Password cracking can be defined as the process of recovering a password based on data that has either been stored on a system or has been transmitted by one. There are many different techniques to accomplish this feat, including some of the following types:
- Brute-Force attack: Systematically trying out as many combinations of characters as possible against the password.
- Dictionary attack: Using words from a dictionary in a utility to try and figure out the password.
- Rainbow table attack: Uses rainbow tables to try and match hashes found in the operating system's password hash files. Rainbow tables have hashes and the corresponding passwords.
- Password guessing: Using a knowledge of the end user to try and figure out their password based strictly on a best guess.
- Phishing attacks: Tricking users into entering their credentials, or stealing the credentials...
