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Wednesday 15 August 2012

How to use Ophcrack, a linux based password cracker


Ophcrack is a Linux based open source software that cracks Windows passwords by means of LM hashes through rainbow tables. LM hashes, also known as LAN Manager Hash was previously the primary has used to store passwords in Microsoft LAN Manager prior to Window NT.
A Hash function is an algorithm that takes a random block of data returns a fixed –size bit string (hash value). A rainbow table is a pre-computed table used to reverse the cryptographic hash functions. The rainbow tables enable Ophcrack crack password hashes.
How do I use Ophcrack?
To use Ophcrack follow the link below this post. After downloading the Image file you can the burn it on a CD. Ophcrack is downloaded as a Live CD meaning that after you burn your CD you boot your device directly from the CD.
Ophcrack comes with a GTK+ Graphical User Interface making it easy to use even you have minimal experience in computers. Time taken to crack your passwords depends on the complexity. A password with alphanumeric characters takes longer to crack but a longer password with both alphanumeric characters and symbols takes even longer.
Here are the steps to recovering your password.
  Download the Ophcrack Live CD.

  Burn the image file to a Cd Rom. You can then use this CD ROM to boot another computer that you want to recover password.
When you are on the computer that has the unknown password, power ON the machine the select the boot device options as the computer powers ON.
From the boot device options, select the CD ROM.
.   Next you get three options to choose from just like in the picture below, you can select the first to work with graphic mode. Should the first option fail you can reboot your machine and choose from the remaining two options.


6   Be patient as Ophcrack begins cracking your passwords .Wait until the graphical interface appears
    When Ophcrack has finished cracking the passwords of all registered users, you will see something similar like the image below.