Question

What are the types of password cracking techniques?

Answer 1

The most popular password cracking techniques used by hackers are listed below:

1. Dictionary attack: This attack uses the common kind of words and short passwords that many people use. The hacker uses a simple file containing words that can be found in the dictionary and tries them frequently with numbers before or after the words against the user accounts.
2. Brute force attack: These are similar to dictionary attacks, but instead of using simple words, hackers detect the non-dictionary words by using all possible alphanumeric combinations from aaa1 to zzz10.
3. Man in the middle attack: In this, the attacker's program actively monitors the information being passed and inserts itself in the middle of the interaction usually by impersonating an application or website. These attacks steal sensitive information such as social security numbers, account numbers, etc.
4. Traffic interception: In this, the hacker uses packet sniffers to monitor network traffic and capture passwords.
5. Keylogger attack: The hacker manages to install software to track the user's keystrokes and enable them not only to collect the user's account information and passwords but also to check which website or app the user was logging into with the credentials.

Answer 2

The most popular types of password cracking techniques are –

1. Dictionary attacks
2. Brute forcing attacks
3. Hybrid attacks
4. Syllable attacks
5. Rule-based attacks
6. Rainbow table attacks
7. Phishing
8. Social engineering
9. Shoulder surfing
10. Spidering
11. Guessing