A Fistful Of Password Busting Tools for Your Travels

Filed under: Security, Windows, Macintosh, Linux

A Fistful Of Password Busting Tools for Your Travels

by Lee Mathews Sep 19th 2008

Not all booty is as easy to find as digging where the X marks the spot. Sometimes a pirate's got to kick a few doors open to get at the goods! Here are a handful of programs to help you gain access whilst pillaging!

If it's Windows you're after, don't forget about trying the easy way first. Reboot, hold F8 down, and boot to safe mode. Log in as Administrator with a blank password. It works on a scary number of systems, and you'll be able to clear or change any other password on the system.

Don't get too paranoid, Windows users. Removing passwords on other systems really isn't all that hard either.

Now, on to the tools!

Offline NT Password & Reg-Editor. There's an excellent walkthrough on the site, including instructions on writing the image to floppy, CD, or a USB drive. Works on almost all versions of NT, from 3.51 right up to Vista. Some success has even been reported on 2008. It's also included on Ultimate Boot CD.

PING. One of my favorite drive cloning apps also includes a utility to blank Admin passwords. It's a great disc to keep in your technician's tool kit.

Ophcrack. Runs on OSX, Linux, and Windows and uses rainbow tables to crack Windows passwords. Several tables are available for download, ranging in size from 380mb to 8gb.

Don't forget Nirsoft for Windows application passwords. Their apps will help you find Messenger, Mail, Dial Up, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and several other passwords, as well as wireless keys.

What about Mac? Grab yourself an OSX boot disc and read up. This article takes you through the process step-by-step. Linux users that need help resetting root's password can read this one for help.

Got another helpful tool to suggest? Comment it so the rest of us can add it to our kits!

Tags: admin, blank password, BlankPassword, password reset, PasswordReset, root

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Spencer Parker said 2:30PM on 9-19-2008

You can't beat Cain & Abel for password cracking and VoIP reconstruction. Check out www.oxid.it

Its a windows tool as well.

For the ultimately hacking collection check out the BackTrack LiveCD from www.remote-exploit.org

commentator8 said 5:00PM on 9-20-2008

Just a heads up about the old boot-into-safe-mode to use the admin account trick; if you boot regurally and are not looged in to any user (switch user wont do it) then press Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to have the option on %99 of computers (and every one without an admin password) to type - not press - a username and password.

So just press Ctrl-Alt-Del twice, type "Administrator" and leave the password blank. Saves some time - especially on old systems.

amir tal said 10:09AM on 9-21-2008

So just press Ctrl-Alt-Del twice, type "Administrator" and leave the password blank. Saves some time - especially on old systems.

= only in places with stupid/very lazy sys-admins.

Lee Mathews said 10:10AM on 9-21-2008

Keep in mind that the Administrator isn't allowed to log in that way by default on XP or Vista...But it'll work in safe mode.

supernova_hq said 3:33PM on 9-21-2008

Don't forget the BackTrack!

Peter said 1:34PM on 9-22-2008

I *NEVER* leave home without naughtylinux! I will check out the others but nothing goes faster than a little bit o'naughty!

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