In the digital age, passwords have been regarded as an acceptable way to protect privacy. Due to the increasing availability of cryptography and biometrics, the flaws in this simple method of authentication became more apparent. The process of cracking passwords has been featured in movies and TV shows, but most people don’t know what it involves. Here, we will examine each of the different ways that passwords can be cracked, similar attacks that result in stolen passwords, the ways in which stolen passwords can cause damage, and how both users and developers can take protective measures in order to keep their passwords secure.
Today, phishing is one of the most popular methods for stealing passwords, and is also used for other types of cyber attacks. This sort of scam relies on deception while acting with malicious intent. It is an example of social engineering. Phishing training exercises are frequently conducted by companies on their employees, both explicitly and unintentionally, because of the prevalence of phishing attempts. Phishing usually occurs via email, however it can also happen via SMS text message, known as ‘smishing’, as well as other forms of communication.
Keep yourself safe by following these tips:
Authenticate using two factors or several factors. Despite the fact that scientists have developed ways of overcoming these problems, no real cases have been reported yet. You should always exercise caution when addressing phishing emails. Always go directly to the vendor’s website instead of signing up for services via email links. Make sure attachments in emails aren’t dangerous. If you take a moment to carefully review the email, it is not hard to detect misspellings or other errors.
#2. Brute Force Attack:
Attacks utilizing brute force refer to several different ways of gaining access to a system, each involving guessing passwords. Hackers can try to guess a person’s password simply by looking at relevant clues, but they usually go further than that. Some passwords may have been exposed by previous data breaches, which means people often reuse their passwords. By attempting to guess usernames associated with conventional passwords, reverse brute force attacks are carried out. Automated processing is most often used in brute force attacks, allowing a massive number of passwords to be fed into a system.
Keep yourself safe by following these tips:
Using passwords that are long enough will keep you safe from brute force attacks. The passphrase I use is 16 characters or longer, as long as it’s the maximum allowed by the service that I’m signing up for. To future-proof myself, I would use a passphrase that is twice as long as the maximum allowed by the service I’m signing up for. It is best to avoid websites that restrict your ability to create a password longer than eight or ten characters.
Your password can be discovered locally if you write it down or use it wherever plain text can be viewed. Often, you do not know that the password was compromised until the attacker uses it.
Keep yourself safe by following these tips.
Do exercise appropriate caution, however, but don’t be paranoid. There is a relatively low danger if you leave easily accessible records of your password lying around, but don’t be surprised if someone takes advantage of that if you make yourself the low-hanging fruit.
#4. Rainbow Table Attack:
In most cases, passwords stored on a system are encrypted with a hash, or cryptographic alias, making it impossible to confirm the password without the corresponding hash. Hackers use directories that register passwords and their hashes, often compiled from previous hacks, in order to bypass this (brute force attacks).
Instead of simply storing passwords and their hashes, rainbow tables also store a precompiled list of all possible plain text versions of encrypted passwords based on the hash algorithm. Once hackers obtain these listings, they can compare them with encryption keys discovered in the system of a company. The attack is launched much faster and easier because much of the computation takes place before the attack. As a consequence, for cyber criminals, rainbow tables can take up a lot of space; many of them are hundreds of gigabytes in size.
Analyzers for networks are tools hackers use to monitor and intercept data packets and steal passwords in plain text. Such attacks require malware or physical access to a network switch, but they can be extremely successful.
The method isn’t dependent on exploiting system vulnerabilities or network bugs, so it can be used on basically all internal networks. It’s additionally considered normal to involve network analysers as a component of the primary period of an assault, circled back to savage power assaults. Obviously, organizations can utilize these equivalent apparatuses to check their own organizations, which can be particularly helpful for running diagnostics or for investigating. Utilizing an organization analyser, administrators can recognize what data is being communicated in plain text, and set up approaches to keep this from occurring. The best way to forestall this assault is to get the traffic by steering it through a VPN or something almost identical.
