{"id":458,"date":"2008-06-10T19:25:03","date_gmt":"2008-06-11T00:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alsplace.aldenbaker.com\/alsplace\/security\/458\/either-choose-strong-passwords-or-don%e2%80%99t-bother-with-a-password-at-all\/"},"modified":"2008-06-10T19:25:03","modified_gmt":"2008-06-11T00:25:03","slug":"either-choose-strong-passwords-or-don%e2%80%99t-bother-with-a-password-at-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/?p=458","title":{"rendered":"Either choose strong passwords, or don\u2019t bother with a password at all"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- ALL ADSENSE ADS DISABLED -->\n<h4 align=\"justify\">May 30th, 2008 <!-- by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes --><\/h4>\n<p class=\"meta\" align=\"justify\">Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes<\/p>\n<p class=\"meta\" align=\"justify\">Earlier today I downloaded the latest Live CD for <a href=\"http:\/\/ophcrack.sourceforge.net\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ophcrack<\/a>, the Windows password cracker, and tried it out on a Vista install to see how good of a password buster it is.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Conclusion: Either choose strong passwords, or don&rsquo;t bother with a password at all.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Here&rsquo;s the test &#8211; I took a virtual PC that uses Windows Vista that I&rsquo;ve been sharing with a few friends (Fred, Barney, Betty and Wilma &hellip; you might know them) and put <a href=\"http:\/\/rivervet.com\/\">dosage for propecia<\/a>  this up against the Live CD to see how many passwords I could recover.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">The process went something like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div align=\"justify\">Download <a href=\"http:\/\/ophcrack.sourceforge.net\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ophcrack<\/a> Live CD<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div align=\"justify\">Burn a CD (although I didn&rsquo;t need to do this&nbsp;&#8211; I just booted the virtual machine off the .ISO file)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div align=\"justify\">Let Ophcrack do its stuff<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"justify\"><strong>Gallery <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/content.zdnet.com\/2346-12554_22-203819.html\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"justify\"><a href=\"http:\/\/content.zdnet.com\/2346-12554_22-203819.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.zdnet.com\/hardware\/images\/ophcrack_01_sm.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"175\" height=\"131\" \/><\/a>&nbsp;<font color=\"#0066cc\"><a href=\"http:\/\/content.zdnet.com\/2346-12554_22-203819-2.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.zdnet.com\/hardware\/images\/ophcrack_02_sm.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"175\" height=\"97\" \/><\/a><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><font color=\"#0066cc\"><a href=\"http:\/\/content.zdnet.com\/2346-12554_22-203819-3.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.zdnet.com\/hardware\/images\/ophcrack_03_sm.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"175\" height=\"131\" \/><\/a><\/font>&nbsp;<font color=\"#0066cc\"><a href=\"http:\/\/content.zdnet.com\/2346-12554_22-203819-4.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.zdnet.com\/hardware\/images\/ophcrack_04_sm.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"175\" height=\"131\" \/><\/a><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><font color=\"#0066cc\"><a href=\"http:\/\/content.zdnet.com\/2346-12554_22-203819-5.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.zdnet.com\/hardware\/images\/ophcrack_05_sm.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"175\" height=\"131\" \/><\/a><\/font>&nbsp;<font color=\"#0066cc\"><a href=\"http:\/\/content.zdnet.com\/2346-12554_22-203819-6.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.zdnet.com\/hardware\/images\/ophcrack_06_sm.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"175\" height=\"131\" \/><\/a><\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">The results were quite staggering. In less than 50 seconds three weak passwords had been recovered (shame on you pcdoc, Fred and Betty &hellip; I&rsquo;m not letting you on my systems again). However, two much longer and more complex passwords (one consisting of alphanumeric characters, the other more complex) survived.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">You have been warned &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"profile\" align=\"justify\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/i.zdnet.com\/images\/ms\/small_akinsley_65x70.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"65\" height=\"70\" align=\"left\" \/><strong>Want to get in touch? Feel free to <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.zdnet.com\/bio.php?id=hughes\">drop me a note!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p> <strong>Right to Reply:<\/strong> Should any industry representatives wish to comment on any posts on Hardware 2.0, I will be happy to publish their reply verbatim on this blog.<\/p>\n<p> Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also also runs a popular blog called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcdoctor-guide.com\/wordpress\">The PC Doctor<\/a>. See his <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.zdnet.com\/bio.php#hughes\">full profile<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.zdnet.com\/hardware\/?page_id=392\">disclosure<\/a> of his industry affiliations.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- \/bloggerDesc --><\/p>\n<!-- Social Bookmarks BEGIN -->\n<div class=\"social_bookmark\">\n<a title=\"Click me to see the sites.\" href=\"#\" onclick=\"$$('div.d458').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_down',{duration:2.5}) }); return false;\"><strong><em>Bookmark to:<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\n<br \/>\n<div class=\"d458\" style=\"overflow:hidden\">\n<br \/>\n<br \/>\n<a style=\"font-size:90%;text-align: right; \" title=\"Click me to hide the sites.\" href=\"#\" onclick=\"$$('div.d458').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_up',{duration:0.5}) }); return false;\">Hide Sites<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- Social Bookmarks END -->\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">$$('div.d458').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_up',{duration:0.5}) }); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>May 30th, 2008 Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes Earlier today I downloaded the latest Live CD for Ophcrack, the Windows password cracker, and tried it out on a Vista install to see how good of a password buster it is. Conclusion: Either choose strong passwords, or don&rsquo;t bother with a password at all. Here&rsquo;s the test [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<!-- Social Bookmarks BEGIN -->\n<div class=\"social_bookmark\">\n<a title=\"Click me to see the sites.\" href=\"#\" onclick=\"$$('div.d458').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_down',{duration:2.5}) }); return false;\"><strong><em>Bookmark to:<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\n<br \/>\n<div class=\"d458\" style=\"overflow:hidden\">\n<br \/>\n<br \/>\n<a style=\"font-size:90%;text-align: right; \" title=\"Click me to hide the sites.\" href=\"#\" onclick=\"$$('div.d458').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_up',{duration:0.5}) }); return false;\">Hide Sites<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- Social Bookmarks END -->\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">$$('div.d458').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_up',{duration:0.5}) }); <\/script>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}