Just An Idea about Password Cracker

[n01100110]

This is basically my first tutorial.It is on how UNIX password cracking is accomplished by attac kers.Im going to "Attempt" To draw out a few simple graphs on how it works.

-------- cat -------------> __encryption ---------> _Unix Password File

--------
Dictionary File

Lets Analyze this.First The Word "Cat" is obviously a word from the dictionary file.
Then the word "Cat" is compared to the password file until it finds a match.
That is basically how John , cracker jack , and all that other bugua work out there.
I know this isnt much , but its my first tutorial , so gimme a feedback.
-N

[ZeroOne]

Eeeeh... Aren't you a little short for a tutorial? Why isn't this on the tutorials forum then? Why didn't you complete your tutorial before posting it, this current piece kinda sucks?

1. I assume you are trying to say that the password is "cat". The word "cat" isn't compared to anything because we don't know it yet. The words are taken from the dictionary file and it is tried if the password is the one. If not, the next word from the dictionary file is taken and tried. It's like having a huge chain of keys, everyone tried at their turn until the right one is found. Alternative would be to make every possible key and try them.
Let's assume that keys are like bytes: 01010101 is a word, so is 00110100, but 10011000 is not. Dictionary files contain the character combinations that form words, brute force crackers try every possible combination. Dictionary crackers rely on the fact that most people don't use very cryptic passwords.
Hell, shoul *I* post this to the tutorials forum now?

[Noia]

Um.....a bit VERY short, and not exactly detailed.......
Still, it was a try

- Noia

PS: Next time, look for some info to back up you'r Tut...

[qinanty]

what is that?

[preep]

yeah but u get shadowed passwd files nowadays, which rules out john the ripper, newer linuxes have /etc/passwd cyphertext in /etc/shadow and that is only accesible by root, and if the admin decides to on an older *nix system he can shadow the passwd file too.

Preep

[jethro]

Oh come on, he doesn't deserve negs for this post. No-one deserves negs for writing a tutorial! Someone might find some information here they can't find anywhere else.
For a first tutorial, it's pretty short. Trying re-writing this tutorial and go into DES and shadow files more in-depth. Then edit this post and replace it with your new tutorial.
Thanks for trying though.

[spirit909]

that was so, so, so unbelievably poor, it didnt explain anything at all to me......