Password Cracking using Hashcat

Hashcat is a password recovery tool that support multiple format and over hundreds highly optimized hashing algorithms.

So, in terms of pentest area, Hashcat is a hacking tool to the most complex of passwords, targeting multiple aspects of coding simultaneously. Hashcat support multiple attack modes such as dictionary, rule-based, combinator, mass, brute, and more.

Cracking a weak password is easy. To crack a strong password takes very long period depend how strong it is.

Using hashcat is pretty straight forward. Let’s get started

Installation

Linux / Kali

apt install hashcat

Mac

brew install hashcat

Windows

Get the download from here

After installation completed, run hashcat --help . It’s supposed to show the list of arguments for hashcat command

hashcat --help

Usage

So, let’s start with simple crack.

Find a md5 hash password or you can create one

# echo -n "hello" | md5…