Tagged Questions

7
votes
3answers
159 views

Plain Text Password Reset Vulnerability

If I receive an email with a plain text generated password (in response to a password reset request), is this a vulnerability? The password expires after one use, in other words the user has to change ...
5
votes
2answers
87 views

Password list generation

I've found during a lot of recent pen-tests that companies will use passwords like c0mp4ny@b( for a company called "company abc" Is there any quick and easy way to generate a list of passwords ...
13
votes
2answers
257 views

Concrete figures on password cracking in the wild

While password guessing is a science, not every attacker out there is up-to-date with the latest advances or cares to invest in GPUs or FPGAs. It's easy enough to test online password guessing ...
0
votes
1answer
147 views

What type of attack should be used in order to pass this authentication

I am practicing the Astalavista Wargames and i came across this challenge. The question is: Bob wrote a piece of software but the password verification doesn't seem to work. You must find a way to log ...
2
votes
4answers
209 views

Can public keys be a security risk when performing password-less SSH logins?

Some companies use monitoring software such as nagios or icinga. In order to perform checks on the servers, they often need password-less SSH logins. The servers being checked put the public key of ...
17
votes
7answers
738 views

Are common passwords at particular risk?

The question Should we disallow common passwords like “password” and “12345”? on User Experience immediately made me think that these common passwords were extremely dangerous not because they are ...
15
votes
4answers
1k views

Why is using salt more secure?

Storing the hash of users' passwords, e.g. in a database, is insecure since human passwords are vulnerable to dictionary attacks. Everyone suggests that this is mitigated via the use of salts, but the ...
2
votes
2answers
168 views

What are stolen passwords used for?

Say there is a line of business application which has username/password datatable in the DB. Personal email address is not stored, and usernames are assigned by an administrator. Someone gains access ...
4
votes
4answers
2k views

How to catch a gmail hacker/money-scammer? (in conversation with one right now!)

My friend's GMail account was recently hacked and the perpetrator sent out one of those classic "help I was mugged, I need money" style e-mails. (Edit: I know it's legit; my friend called me to tell ...
5
votes
3answers
649 views

Attack vectors for brute-forcing website passwords

When talking about password security, a lot of discussion centers on the risk of a password being guessed in a brute-force attack. For websites where a user has registered an account, what are the ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views

What password cracking software is commonly used?

I am curious to know how secure my passwords are. What password cracking software is commonly used? Preferably open source. EDIT: I am actually looking to crack my passwords used on services I ...
7
votes
6answers
940 views

Facebook account keeps getting hacked, can't seem to figure out why or how?

One of my mate, she has a lot of friends on Facebook, uses it for marketing. Her account keeps getting broken into. Her password gets reset and/or gets locked for changing resetting password too many ...
11
votes
4answers
1k views

Security of passphrase-protected private key

If an attacker obtains a private key that was created with no passphrase, he obviously gains access to everything protected with that key. How secure are private keys set up with a passphrase? If an ...
30
votes
7answers
20k views

Where can I find good dictionaries for dictionary attacks?

I’m wondering where I can find good collections of dictionaries which can be used for dictionary attacks? I've found some through Google, but I’m interested in hearing about where you get your ...
4
votes
6answers
1k views

Retrieving OSx Keychain passwords

I have a computer forensics style osx login.keychain file that I am trying to find the passwords from. I have a very weak mac which I used crowbarkc on to try and brute force but the horsepower is ...