Cryptography and Hash Cracking

One of the best topics in the cybersecurity field is cracking passwords. This chapter discusses the basics of cryptography so penetration testers can understand what they are dealing with. It focuses on the following: basics of cryptography, hashing, encryption, and Hashcat usage. Cryptography has been used for thousands of years to hide secret messages. Hashing algorithms confirm the integrity of digital data. There are a lot of hashing algorithms that testers will hear about in their career. The chapter cover the most popular ones so they can crack them, such as, Message Digest version 5, Secure Hash Algorithm, and Hash‐based message authenticated code. Encryption is divided into two categories: symmetric and asymmetric. Symmetric encryption will use one key to encrypt and decrypt data. On the other hand, asymmetric encryption will use unique public and private keys to encrypt and decrypt data. When it comes to cracking, Hashcat is the tool of choice.