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Understanding Password Cracking: Techniques and Consequences of Weak Hashing

In today's digital landscape, modern hashing techniques are crucial for securing passwords. Despite this, many users opt for weak passwords while administrators often fail to implement robust hashing methods. This leads to repeated security breaches, as seen in cases like the Adobe and Sony PlayStation hacks. Attackers exploit bad password choices and vulnerabilities through dictionary attacks. By utilizing methods like password salting and modern hashing standards such as PBKDF2, bcrypt, and scrypt, the security of user passwords can be significantly enhanced.

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Understanding Password Cracking: Techniques and Consequences of Weak Hashing

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  1. EECS 354Network Security Passwords and Cryptography

  2. Cracking a Hash • Modern hashing techniques are essentially uncrackable for unpatterned passwords of >7 characters • But, lucky for hackers: • Users choose bad passwords • Administrators don’t use modern hashing methods

  3. Some Examples • 2013 Adobe breach: At least 28 million passwords in Triple DES • 2013 Cupid Media breach: 42 million passwords in plain text • 2011 Sony Playstation breach: 77 million passwords and credit card numbers in ? • 2010 Gawker breach: 1 million passwords in DES

  4. Stolen Passwords • Eventually, someone usually notices their database has been hacked • Before: • Administrative access? Data tampering? Data collection? • After: • Users reuse passwords • Database associates password with identifying info • email, username, real name • grep for .gov, sensitive accounts • Leads to more sensitive data • Hacking email, social media

  5. Dictionary Attacks • Effective against basic hash functions • MD5, SHA1, SHA2, etc • Dictionaries vary in size • Append, prepend, mutate dictionary entries • Password lists are also common for cracking (can be in the millions) • Password salting • Users with the same password won’t be cracked simultaneously

  6. Dictionary Attacks • Here’s one word from your dictionary: password • With simple operations you can crack: • password123 • p4ssw0rd • Password • Password2014

  7. “Good” Hashing • People don’t notice if it takes one second to verify their password • Method: Use hashing. A lot. ~100,000 times, repeatedly. And a long salt. • Standard: PBKDF2 • Alternatives: bcrypt, scrypt • Strength varies in password length, character diversity • brute force: useless (huge key space)dictionary: bad passwords are still bad

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