Do you want to find out someone’s password? Examine your life choices. Instead, learn how to safeguard your password from hackers. What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “security breach”? A nefarious hacker seated in front of displays adorned with Matrix-style digital text? Or a basement-dwelling adolescent who hasn’t seen the light of day in three weeks? Consider the possibility of a strong supercomputer attempting to hack the entire planet. It all comes down to one thing: your password. Someone who can guess your password does not need sophisticated hacking tools or supercomputers. They’ll simply log on as you. It’s game over if your password is too short and straightforward.
There are eight main methods used by hackers to get your password.
1. Dictionary Exploit
The dictionary attack comes first in the list of frequent password cracking strategies. Why is it referred to as a dictionary attack? Because it automatically compares the password to every word in a predefined “dictionary.” The dictionary is not the same as the one you used in school.
No. This dictionary is a tiny file that contains the most frequently used password combinations. 123456, qwerty, password, iloveyou, and the all-time classic, hunter2, are among them.
Pros:
Quick; generally unlocks even the most heavily secured accounts.
Cons:
Even passwords that are somewhat stronger will remain safe.
Maintain your safety:
Use a password management programme in conjunction with a strong single-use password for each account. The password manager allows you to keep track of your other passwords in a repository. Then you may use a single, outrageously strong password for all of your accounts.
2. Brute Force
The brute force assault comes next, in which an attacker attempts every conceivable character combination. Attempted passwords will meet the complexity rules’ demands, such as incorporating one upper-case and one lower-case letter, decimals of Pi, your pizza order, and so on.
A brute force assault will also attempt the most frequently used alphanumeric character combinations first. These include the passwords already mentioned, as well as 1q2w3e4r5t, zxcvbnm, and qwertyuiop. This approach can take a very long time to figure out a password, but this is totally dependent on the intricacy of the password.
Pros:
In theory, it can hack any password by testing every possible combination.
Cons:
Depending on the length and difficulty of the password, it might take a very long time. When you add a few variables like $, &, {, or ], determining the password becomes incredibly complex.
Maintain your safety:
Always utilise a varied mix of characters, and add extra symbols whenever feasible to increase complexity.
3. Phishing
This isn’t precisely a “hack,” but falling victim to a phishing or spear-phishing attempt generally results in disaster. General phishing emails are sent by the billions to all kinds of internet users all over the world, and it is undeniably one of the most prevalent methods of obtaining someone’s password.
In general, a phishing email looks like this:
1. A fake email appearing to be from a big organisation or business is sent to the target user.
2. A spoof email demands a quick response and includes a link to a website.
3. This URL leads to a bogus login page that is designed to seem just like the authentic site.
4. The unwitting target user inputs their login information and is either redirected or advised to try again.
5. User credentials are stolen, sold, or abused (or both).
The daily amount of spam sent internationally remains enormous, accounting for more than half of all emails sent globally. In addition, the amount of fraudulent attachments is considerable, with Kaspersky stopping more than 148 million harmful files in 2021. In addition, Kaspersky’s Anti-Phishing technology detected and blocked an extra 253 million phishing URLs. Remember that this is only for Kaspersky, therefore the true figure is significantly higher.
A false invoice was the most common phishing bait in 2017. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 introduced a new phishing danger. Google claimed in April 2020 that it was filtering over 18 million COVID-19-related harmful spam and phishing emails each day, not long after several countries fell under pandemic lockdown. Many of these emails employ official government or health agency branding to appear legitimate, catching victims off guard.
Pros:
In a spear-phishing assault, the victim essentially passes out their login information, including passwords—relatively high strike rate, readily targeted to specific services or specific persons.
Cons:
Spam emails are readily blocked, spam domains are banned, and big providers such as Google upgrade defenses on a regular basis.
Maintain your safety:
Be wary of emails, set your spam filter to the maximum level, or, better yet, use a proactive whitelist. Before clicking on an email link, use a link checker to ensure that it is real.
4. Social Engineering
Social engineering is simply phishing in the real world, rather than on a screen.
A critical component of any security audit is determining what the whole staff understands. A security firm, for example, will call the company being audited. The “attacker” tells the individual on the phone that they are the new office tech support staff and that they want the most recent password for a special reason.
Without thinking, an unknowing person may hand up the keys.
The frightening issue is how frequently this works. For ages, social engineering has been practiced. Being dishonest to get access to a secure place is a typical technique of attack that can only be avoided via education. This is due to the fact that the assault will not always ask for a password explicitly. It may be a phone plumber or electrician requesting access to a protected building, for example. When someone claims to have been duped into exposing their password, it is usually the consequence of social engineering.
Pros:
Skilled social engineers can harvest valuable information from a variety of targets. It can be used against nearly anybody, anyplace. It’s really discrete.
Cons:
A social engineering failure might raise concerns about an approaching assault and make it difficult to obtain accurate information.
Maintain your safety:
this is a difficult one. By the time you notice something is amiss, you will have completed a successful social engineering attack. One of the most important mitigating strategies is education and security awareness. Posting personal information that might be used against you is not a good idea.
5. Rainbow Table
A rainbow table is typically used in an offline password attack. For instance, suppose an attacker obtains a list of user names and passwords, but they are encrypted. The hashed password is encrypted. This implies it looks nothing like the original password.
For example, your password is (hopefully) logmein. This password’s MD5 hash is “8f4047e3233b39e4444e1aef240e80aa.”
To you and me, it’s gibberish. In certain circumstances, however, the attacker will run a list of plaintext passwords through a hashing technique and compare the results to an encrypted password file. In other circumstances, the encryption technique is insecure, and most passwords, such as MD5, have already been cracked (which is why we know the particular hash for “logmein”).
This is where the rainbow table really shines. A rainbow table is a massive set of precomputed algorithm-specific hash values that eliminates the need to evaluate hundreds of thousands of possible passwords and match their resultant hash. Using a rainbow table significantly reduces the time required to crack a hashed password—but it is not perfect. Hackers may buy pre-filled rainbow tables with millions of possible combinations.
Pros:
Can figure out difficult passwords quickly; gives the hacker a lot of leverage over certain security circumstances.
Cons:
The massive (often terabytes) rainbow table necessitates a lot of storage space. In addition, attackers are limited to the values in the table (otherwise, they must add another entire table).
Maintain your safety:
This is another hard one. Rainbow tables provide a diverse selection of attacking options. Avoid any websites that employ the SHA1 or MD5 password hashing algorithms. Avoid any websites that require you to use short passwords or restrict the number of characters you may use. Always use a password that is difficult to guess.
6. Keylogger/Malware
Another likely method to lose your login credentials is to become infected with malware. Malware is widespread, and it has the capability of causing huge damage. If the virus type includes a keylogger, you may find that all of your accounts have been hacked.
Alternatively, the infection might explicitly target private data or install a remote access Trojan in order to steal your credentials.
Pros:
Thousands of malware versions, many of which are customizable, with a variety of simple distribution techniques. A large number of targets are likely to fall to at least one version. It has the ability to remain unnoticed, allowing additional collecting of sensitive data and login credentials.
Cons:
There is a chance that the virus will not operate or will be quarantined before accessing data; there is no assurance that the data will be valuable.
Maintain your safety:
Install and keep your antivirus and antimalware software up to date. Consider your download sources carefully. Do not proceed with installation packages that include bundleware and other software. Stay away from shady websites (easier said than done). To stop harmful scripts, use script blocking tools.
7. Spidering
Spidering is related to the dictionary attack. If a hacker targets a certain organisation or business, he or she may try a series of passwords related to the institution or business. The hacker may either read and compile a list of similar phrases, or they could employ a search spider to perform the work for them.
You’ve probably heard the phrase “spider” before. These search spiders resemble those that traverse the internet, indexing material for search engines. The customised word list is then applied to user accounts in the hopes of discovering a match.
Pros:
Accounts for high-ranking employees inside an organisation might possibly be unlocked. It’s rather simple to assemble and adds a new level to a dictionary assault.
Cons:
If corporate network security is properly configured, it may be futile.
Maintain your safety:
Once again, only use strong, one-time-use passwords made up of random sequences that have nothing to do with your identity, business, or organisation.
8. Shoulder Surfing
The final option is one of the most fundamental. What if someone merely peeks over your shoulder as you type your password?
Shoulder surfing may appear absurd, yet it actually occurs. If you’re working in a crowded downtown café and aren’t paying attention, someone may sneak near enough to steal your password while you type.
Pros:
A low-tech technique for obtaining a password.
Cons:
Must identify the target before determining the password; may disclose themselves while stealing.
Maintain your safety:
When inputting your password, keep an eye on others surrounding you. During input, cover your keyboard and hide your keys.
Always choose a strong, one-time-only password.
So, what can you do to prevent a hacker from acquiring your password? The short answer is that you can never be completely protected. Hackers’ technologies for stealing your data are always evolving, and there are innumerable videos and guides on guessing passwords or learning how to crack a password.
One thing is certain: using a strong, unique, one-time password will never harm anyone.
