Overview

Hash cracking is an essential skill for penetration testers and security auditors to evaluate password strength. Hashcat is the world's fastest password recovery tool, supporting over 300 hash types with GPU acceleration. This skill covers using hashcat for authorized password auditing, understanding attack modes, creating effective rule sets, and generating hash analysis reports. This is strictly for authorized penetration testing and password policy assessment.

When to Use

When conducting security assessments that involve performing hash cracking with hashcat
When following incident response procedures for related security events
When performing scheduled security testing or auditing activities
When validating security controls through hands-on testing

Prerequisites

Familiarity with cryptography concepts and tools
Access to a test or lab environment for safe execution
Python 3.8+ with required dependencies installed
Appropriate authorization for any testing activities

Overview

When to Use

When conducting security assessments that involve performing hash cracking with hashcat
When following incident response procedures for related security events
When performing scheduled security testing or auditing activities
When validating security controls through hands-on testing

Prerequisites

Familiarity with cryptography concepts and tools
Access to a test or lab environment for safe execution
Python 3.8+ with required dependencies installed
Appropriate authorization for any testing activities

Mode	Flag	Description	Use Case
Dictionary	-a 0	Wordlist attack	Known password patterns
Combination	-a 1	Combine two wordlists	Compound passwords
Brute-force	-a 3	Mask-based enumeration	Short passwords
Rule-based	-a 0 -r	Dictionary + transformation rules	Complex variations
Hybrid	-a 6/7	Wordlist + mask	Passwords with appended numbers

Hash Mode	Type	Example Use
0	MD5	Legacy web apps
100	SHA-1	Legacy systems
1000	NTLM	Windows credentials
1800	sha512crypt	Linux /etc/shadow
3200	bcrypt	Modern web apps
13100	Kerberos TGS-REP	Active Directory

Performing Hash Cracking With Hashcat

Overview

When to Use

Prerequisites

Performing Hash Cracking With Hashcat

Overview

When to Use

Prerequisites

Objectives

Key Concepts

Hashcat Attack Modes

Common Hash Types

Security Considerations

Validation Criteria

1password

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