You will learn, in detail, how to use Hashcat, its supporting tools as well as Hashtopolis for distributed cracking. Message to prospective students: Calling hashcat a ‘password cracker’ is a true statement but is also an over-simplification. Pulling back the layers on this tool reveals a complexity that is not appreciated until you dive in and begin to explore. Like all tools, this one involves typing a command, pressing enter and waiting for the result. But what is not readily apparent is the skill and artistry that is required to make this tool a truly amazing piece of kit in your armory. This course endeavors to focus on the technical while simultaneously pushing you in the direction of using hashcat with a nuanced, artist-like approach.
Learning Objectives
Provide a brief overview of modern cryptography for the purposes of framing hashing techniques and their role in securing information systems Understand the state of affairs with modern password usage. This includes; Issues with passwords and password implementation (proper and improper usage) Approaches to password cracking An examination of famous password breaches and what was learned from them Passkeys, Dicewords, passphrases and password complexity Approaches to password cracking – A logical, methodical approach to password cracking that can and will vary from target to target Exploring Distributed Cracking Time-space tradeoffs in password cracking Considerations and variations in technique when dealing with slow v. fast hashes Password Entropy What it is and why it is so important Calculating entropy Considerations for building password cracking computers (‘cracking rigs’) GPU choices RAM choices CPU choices Cooling Power Motherboard considerations Considerations in Internet Wordlists, Custom Wordlists and character encoding Overview of Hashcat What it is What it can and cannot do Overview of attack modes and supported algorithms Identifying algorithm type (if/when possible) Understanding Hashcat Base and Mod loops and how they impact cracking Detailed exploration of Hashcat pot files and pot file management Managing Hashcat sessions An in-depth look at each tool in hashcat utils and how each might be used in support of cracking efforts. This includes: cap2hccapx cleanup-rules combinator, combinator3 and combinatorX combi pow cut expander export_potfile gate generate-rules hcstatgen & hcstat2gen keyspace len mli2 morph permute prepare remaining req-exclude req-include rli, rli2 tmesis, tmesis-dynamic Detailed Exploration of each hashcat attack type and its usage. This includes: Dictionary attacks Rule-based Attack Analyzing Internet rule sets Creating your own custom rule sets Ruleset considerations with various algorithms Combinator Attack Brute Force Attack (Marov) Understanding Markov Chains Mask Attacks Custom Hash Masks and Characters Sets Hybrid Attacks Association Attacks Analysis of Wi-Fi Vendors and their default key algorithms and how they can be attacked in the most optimal way possible. Detailed exploration of keyboard walks and kwprocessor An analysis of keyboard walk vectors (magnitude & direction) Creation of custom keymap files Creating your own route files Using hcstatsgen and stats processor to make your own hcstat files (optimizing Markov for target-specific attacks) Using mask processor to generate customized candidates using mask files Using prince processor for automated password guessing Using Hashtopolis for distributed cracking
Framework Connections
The materials within this course focus on the NICE Framework Task, Knowledge, and Skill statements identified within the indicated NICE Framework component(s):