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Thread: Windows password cracked in seconds

  1. #1
    igodit Guest

    Default Windows password cracked in seconds

    If your passwords consist of letters and numbers, beware.
    Swiss researchers released a paper on Tuesday outlining a way to speed the cracking of alphanumeric Windows passwords, reducing the time to break such codes to an average of 13.6 seconds, from 1 minute 41 seconds.

    The method involves using large lookup tables to match encoded passwords to the original text entered by a person, thus speeding the calculations required to break the codes. Called a time-memory trade-off, the situation means that an attacker with an abundance of computer memory can reduce the time it takes to break a secret code.

    The results highlight a fact about which many security researchers have worried: Microsoft's manner for encoding passwords has certain weaknesses that make such techniques particularly effective, Philippe Oechslin, a senior research assistant and lecturer at the Cryptography and Security Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), wrote in an e-mail to CNET News.com.

    "Windows passwords are not very good," he wrote. "The problem with Windows passwords is that they do not include any random information."

    Read on: Cracking Windows passwords in seconds CNET News.com

  2. #2
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    Default Re:Windows password cracked in seconds

    This is scary...


    hhmmmm



    Penguin anyone?

  3. #3
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    Default Re:Windows password cracked in seconds

    Nastro,

    You the Bill Gates of the Linux underground ;D ;D ;D ;D

  4. #4
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    Default Re:Windows password cracked in seconds

    Hmmm....why am I not surprised?
    Question though....does this apply ONLY to windows passwords and not any 4 character alphnumeric password regardless of system? 8)

  5. #5
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    Default Re:Windows password cracked in seconds

    Time to have a good password policy -

    Minimum password length of 8 chars
    Require complex passwords (letters, numbers, punctuation, special chars)
    Regular password changes
    Account lockouts after x number of incorrect logins
    Forbid re-use of passwords




  6. #6
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    Default Re:Windows password cracked in seconds

    I enjoyed reading your post.


    Since you are interested in Infosec you may find this article interesting reading.

    Check out this article:


    http://www.techrepublic.com/article_...htm&page=1

  7. #7
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    Default Re:Windows password cracked in seconds

    LC4 can crack passwords in seconds.

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