https://thehackernews.com/2025/02/three-password-cracking-techniques-and.html

Passwords are rarely appreciated until a security breach occurs; suffice to say, the importance of a strong password becomes clear only when faced with the consequences of a weak one. However, most end users are unaware of just how vulnerable their passwords are to the most common password-cracking methods. The following are the three common techniques for cracking passwords and how to defend against them.
Brute force attack#

Brute force attacks are straightforward yet highly effective techniques for cracking passwords. These attacks involve malicious actors using automated tools to systematically try every possible password combination through repeated login attempts. While such tools have existed for years, the advent of affordable computing power and storage has made them even more efficient today, especially when weak passwords are used. How it works#

When it comes to brute force attacks, malicious actors employ a range of tactics—from simple brute force attacks that test every possible password combination to more nuanced approaches like hybrid and reverse brute force attacks. Each method has a distinct strategy behind it, but the motives behind brute force attacks are the same: to gain unauthorized access to protected data or resources.

Some popular automated tools for carrying out brute force attacks include:

John the Ripper: a multiplatform password cracker with support for 15 different operating systems and hundreds of hashes and cipher types
L0phtCrack: a tool that uses rainbow tables, dictionaries, and multiprocessor algorithms to crack Windows passwords
Hashcat: a cracking/password recovery utility that supports five unique modes of attack for over 300 highly-optimized hashing algorithms

Examples#

Back in August 2021, U.S. mobile operator T-Mobile fell victim to a data breach that started with a brute force attack. The security compromise resulted in the ex
* Origin: Reign of Fire BBS (314:413/1)