Password Cracking Tools: Cain & Abel and Ophcrack

Running head: CYBER SECURITY AND ANALYTICS
Cyber Security and Analytics
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

CYBER SECURITY AND ANALYTICS1
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Overview....................................................................................................................................2
Cain & Abel...........................................................................................................................2
Ophcrack................................................................................................................................3
Measures of the cracking tools...............................................................................................3
Downloading and Cracking method.......................................................................................3
Analysis......................................................................................................................................4
Comparison..........................................................................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
This report intends to analyse and discuss about the password cracking tools used for
testing vulnerabilities in the security system. The provided case deals with a FTP Linux based
server where Mr Daniel Grovoer runs a supply chain of clothing. He wants to shift his
business on an online website based system. The content of the systems are uploaded by
using a FTP server. The website is password protected with user authentication. The
password are kept in a database that is encrypted in a ciphertext [1]. The use of password
crack tools will identify the loopholes in the system so that the holes can be filled properly to
make it less vulnerable to the hackers. The used tools for this password cracking is Cain &
Abel and Ophcrack. These two tools are installed and tested with some password to crack.
Overview
Password cracking is method where the hash keys or encrypted text is needed to be
processed. Later applying different algorithms the original password can be estimated.
Different algorithms or tools requires different amount of time according to the number of
bits present in the password and the technique used for the decryption [2].
Cain & Abel
Cain and Abel is multipurpose password recovery tool where it uses packet sniffing
over a network with dictionary attack, brute force, ftp server etc. It can be said as a most
highly rated security tools. It works best on the Microsoft windows operating system.
However, it is also available for the Linux OS. Apart from other tools that are available
online which have more updated type of attacks. Generally Cain & Abel doesn’t properly run
on windows 7 or late. To run it on windows 7 and later it requires dll files separately [3]. On
other hand, it also uses the technique with cryptanalysis attack where a separate programing
named winrtgen.exe that generates rainbow tables (hash tables). The different types of hashes

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can be cracked in this system are LM, NTLM, MD2, MD5, MD4 along with SQL server
injection, MySQL etc . As it depends on the rainbow tables it can recover 99.99% of the
passwords from the windows account.
Ophcrack
Ophcrack is also a password cracking tool that is available on windows, Linux and
MacOS operating systems. The tool has a graphical user interface like Cain & Abel with very
efficient way of handling tools. It can implement brute-force with cracks LM and NTLM
hashes. It is open source software available on the internet. It also uses the LiveCD
techniques to crack the password that requires less time in comparison to other software [4].
Along with its features the cons of the using tools are it always get recognized as Virus and
any antivirus installed on the system or the windows defender disabled and delete the
installation file.
Measures of the cracking tools
The use of the cracking tools are consist of the different countermeasures while using
it. To avoid hacking on a system and using this tools to identify the vulnerabilities, the
password need to have some limitations. For example the size of the password should not be
short or easily predictable. The simple patterns or using same type of data type should not be
used. The password that is presented r tested through these tools need to be in encrypted form
unless it will not make any sense of cracking password in the field of cyber security [5]. The
strength of the password should also be increased by mixing the characters with the alphabets
that can be either uppercase value or lowercase value both.
Downloading and Cracking method
1. Caine and Abel: The Cain and able is an open source application and it is available
on the internet. It can be downloaded as the executable file for windows [6]. The file