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While passwords remain the first line of defense for protecting user accounts against unauthorized access, the methods for creating strong passwords and protecting them are continually evolving. For example, NIST password recommendations are now prioritizing password length over complexity. Hashing, however, remains a non-negotiable. Even long secure passphrases should be hashed to prevent them from being completely exposed in the event of a data breach – and never stored in plaintext. This article examines how today’s cyber attackers attempt to crack hashed passwords, explores common hashing algorithms and their limitations, and discusses measures you can take to protect your hashed passwords, regardless of which algorithm you are using. Modern password cracking techniques Malicious actors have an array of tools and methods at their disposal for cracking hashed passwords. Some of the more widely used methods include brute force attacks, password dictionary attacks, hybrid attacks...

Industrial engineers and operators are the target of a new campaign that leverages password cracking software to seize control of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and co-opt the machines to a botnet. The software "exploited a vulnerability in the firmware which allowed it to retrieve the password on command," Dragos security researcher Sam Hanson  said . "Further, the software was a malware dropper, infecting the machine with the Sality malware and turning the host into a peer in Sality's peer-to-peer botnet." The industrial cybersecurity firm said the password retrieval exploit embedded in the malware dropper is designed to recover the credential associated with Automation Direct  DirectLOGIC 06 PLC . The exploit, tracked as CVE-2022-2003 (CVSS score: 7.7), has been described as a case of cleartext transmission of sensitive data that could lead to information disclosure and unauthorized changes. The issue was  addressed  in firmware Version 2.72 rele...

Last month, when hackers leaked nearly 100 gigabytes of sensitive data belonging to the popular online casual sex and marriage affair website ' Ashley Madison ', there was at least one thing in favor of 37 Million cheaters that their Passwords were encrypted . But, the never ending saga of Ashley Madison hack could now definitely hit the cheaters hard, because a group of crazy Password Cracking Group, which calls itself CynoSure Prime , has cracked more than 11 Million user passwords just in the past 10 days, not years. Yes, the hashed passwords that were previously thought to be cryptographically protected using Bcrypt, have now been cracked successfully. Bcrypt is a cryptographic algorithm that makes the hashing process so slow that it would literally take centuries to brute-force all of the Ashley Madison account passwords. How do they Crack Passwords? The Password cracking team identified a weakness after reviewing the leaked data, which included u...

If you are using TeamViewer, then beware and make sure you're running the latest version of the popular remote desktop connection software for Windows. TeamViewer team recently released a new version of its software that includes a patch for a severe vulnerability ( CVE 2020-13699 ), which, if exploited, could let remote attackers steal your system password and eventually compromise it. What's more worrisome is that the attack can be executed almost automatically without requiring much interaction of the victims and just by convincing them to visit a malicious web page once. For those unaware, TeamViewer is a popular remote-support software that allows users to securely share their desktop or take full control of other's PC over the Internet from anywhere in the world. The remote access software is available for desktop and mobile operating systems, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome OS, iOS, Android, Windows RT Windows Phone 8, and BlackBerry. Discovered b...

Zoom has been there for nine years, but the immediate requirement of an easy-to-use video conferencing app during the coronavirus pandemic overnight made it one of the most favorite communication tool for millions of people around the globe. No doubt, Zoom is an efficient online video meeting solution that's helping people stay socially connected during these unprecedented times, but it's still not the best choice for everyone—especially those who really care about their privacy and security. According to cybersecurity expert @_g0dmode , the Zoom video conferencing software for Windows is vulnerable to a classic ' UNC path injection ' vulnerability that could allow remote attackers to steal victims' Windows login credentials and even execute arbitrary commands on their systems. Such attacks are possible because Zoom for Windows supports remote UNC paths that convert potentially insecure URIs into hyperlinks when received via chat messages to a recipient in a...

Looking for how to hack WiFi password OR WiFi hacking software? Well, a security researcher has revealed a new WiFi hacking technique that makes it easier for hackers to crack WiFi passwords of most modern routers. Discovered by the lead developer of the popular password-cracking tool Hashcat, Jens 'Atom' Steube, the new WiFi hack works explicitly against WPA/WPA2 wireless network protocols with Pairwise Master Key Identifier (PMKID)-based roaming features enabled. The attack to compromise the WPA/WPA2 enabled WiFi networks was accidentally discovered by Steube while he was analyzing the newly-launched WPA3 security standard . This new WiFi hacking method could potentially allow attackers to recover the Pre-shared Key (PSK) login passwords, allowing them to hack into your Wi-Fi network and eavesdrop on the Internet communications. How to Hack WiFi Password Using PMKID According to the researcher, the previously known WiFi hacking methods require attackers to wai...

Hash Code Cracker V 1.2 Released ~ Password Cracking from BreakTheSecurity BreakTheSecurity is proud to release the Hash Code Cracker Version 1.2. Our latest release supports Online Cracking function. Description: This password cracker is developed for PenTesters and Ethical hackers. Please Use this software for legal purposes(Testing the Password Strength). Features: This software will crack the MD5, SHA1,NTLM(Windows Password) hash codes. No need to install. Supports All platforms(windows XP/7,Linux,..). V1.2 Changelog : Included Online cracking Support Minimum Requirements: Java Runtime Environment: JRE 1.6 should be installed.(you can get it from oracle.com) How to Run the Application? Download the .zip file and extract. Extract the zip file. Open the Terminal or command prompt. Navigate to the path of Extracted zip file (i mean HashCodeCracker Folder) in Terminal/CMD. Type this command "java -jar HashCodeCracker.jar". Now the applica...

German security researcher Thomas Roth has found an innovative use for cloud computing: cracking wireless networks that rely on pre-shared key passphrases, such as those found in homes and smaller businesses. Roth has created a program that runs on Amazon's Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2) system. It uses the massive computing power of EC2 to run through 400,000 possible passwords per second, a staggering amount, hitherto unheard of outside supercomputing circles--and very likely made possible because EC2 now allows graphics processing units (GPUs) to be used for computational tasks. Among other things, these are particularly suited to password cracking tasks. In other words, this isn't a clever or elegant hack, and it doesn't rely on a flaw in wireless networking technology. Roth's software merely generates millions of passphrases, encrypts them, and sees if they allow access to the network. However, employing the theoretically infinite resources of cloud computing to ...

A Microsoft Windows policy loophole has been observed being exploited primarily by native Chinese-speaking threat actors to forge signatures on kernel-mode drivers. "Actors are leveraging multiple open-source tools that alter the signing date of kernel mode drivers to load malicious and unverified drivers signed with expired certificates," Cisco Talos said in an  exhaustive two-part report  shared with The Hacker News. "This is a major threat, as access to the kernel provides complete access to a system, and therefore total compromise." Following responsible disclosure, Microsoft  said  it has taken steps to block all certificates to mitigate the threat. It further stated that its investigation found "the activity was limited to the abuse of several developer program accounts and that no Microsoft account compromise has been identified." The tech giant, besides suspending developer program accounts involved in the incident, emphasized that the threat a...

It's hilarious that pirates are using anti-piracy measures to protect its own paid software that helps others to run pirated games on Nintendo Switches. Hacking group Team Xecuter —the developers of Nintendo Switch jailbreaking software SX OS that helps gamers play homebrewed and pirated games on the console—has itself been caught using anti-piracy measures in its own code that can brick your Switch, if it detects you are trying to crack it for unauthorized distribution. If you own a Nintendo Switch, you must be aware that to fight piracy on the console, the company has an anti-piracy measure in place that uses encrypted certificates to verify a game's legitimacy. If it detects any pirated game or modified console, the Switch immediately gets banned from the company's online servers. To bypass these restrictions, developers’ groups like Team Xecuter (TX) offer jailbreaking software that enables gamers to play pirated games on the gaming console. Earlier this mont...

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced charges against 12 Chinese nationals for their alleged participation in a wide-ranging scheme designed to steal data and suppress free speech and dissent globally. The individuals include two officers of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) Ministry of Public Security (MPS), eight employees of an ostensibly private PRC company, Anxun Information Technology Co. Ltd. (安洵信息技术有限公司) also known as i-Soon , and members of Advanced Persistent Threat 27 ( APT27 , aka Budworm, Bronze Union, Emissary Panda, Lucky Mouse, and Iron Tiger) - Wu Haibo (吴海波), Chief Executive Officer Chen Cheng (陈诚), Chief Operating Officer Wang Zhe (王哲), Sales Director Liang Guodong (梁国栋), Technical Staff Ma Li (马丽), Technical Staff Wang Yan (王堰), Technical Staff Xu Liang (徐梁), Technical Staff Zhou Weiwei (周伟伟), Technical Staff Wang Liyu (王立宇), MPS Officer Sheng Jing (盛晶), MPS Officer Yin Kecheng (尹可成), APT27 actor aka "YKC" Zhou Sh...

A simple but highly critical vulnerability recently disclosed in the most widely used OpenSSH software allows attackers to try thousands of password login attempts per connection in a short period. OpenSSH is the most popular software widely used for secure remote access to Linux-based systems. Generally, the software allows 3 to 6 Password login attempts before closing a connection, but a new vulnerability lets attackers perform thousands of authentication requests remotely . OpenSSH servers with keyboard-interactive authentication enabled , including FreeBSD Linux, can be exploited to carry out the brute force attack on OpenSSH protocol, a security researcher with online alias KingCope explained in a blog post . Exploit for the Vulnerability RELEASED  Hackers could widely exploit the vulnerability because the keyboard-interactive authentication is by default enabled on most of the systems. Researcher has also released a proof-of-concept exploit code, whi...

The Russian government is offering almost 4 million ruble which is approximately equal to $111,000 to the one who can devise a reliable technology to decrypt data sent over the Tor , an encrypted anonymizing network used by online users in order to hide their activities from law enforcement, government censors, and others. The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) issued a notice on its official procurement website, originally posted on July 11, under the title " шифр «ТОР (Флот)» " ;which translates as " cipher 'TOR' (Navy) " an open call for Tor-cracking proposals whose winner will be chosen by August 20. The MIA specifically wants researchers to “ study the possibility of obtaining technical information about users and users' equipment on the Tor anonymous network, ” according to a translated version of the Russian government’s proposal. Only Russian nationals and companies are allowed to take part in the competition " in o...

Programming has five main steps: the identification and definition of the problem, the planning of the solution for the problem, coding of the program, testing, and documentation. It's a meticulous process that cannot be completed without going through all the essential points. In all of these, security must be taken into account. As you come up with a solution to the problem and write the code for it, you need to make sure security is kept intact. Cyber attacks are becoming more and more prevalent, and the trend is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. As individuals, businesses, organizations, and governments become more reliant on technology, cybercrime is expected to only grow. Most of what people do in contemporary society involves the internet, computers, and apps/software. It's only logical for programmers to be mindful of the security aspect of making applications or software. It's not enough for programmers to produce something that works. After ...