Hack This Site! Index of /content/downloads/pdf. The Jargon File. The History of Hacking. Information Leak. 2wp41du. Rainbow Hash Cracking. The multi-platform password cracker Ophcrack is incredibly fast. How fast? It can crack the password "Fgpyyih804423" in 160 seconds.
Most people would consider that password fairly secure. The Microsoft password strength checker rates it "strong". The Geekwisdom password strength meter rates it "mediocre". Why is Ophcrack so fast? Because it uses Rainbow Tables. Although those are beautiful, too. To understand how rainbow tables work, you first have to understand how passwords are stored on computers, whether on your own desktop, or on a remote web server somewhere. Passwords are never stored in plaintext. But it is possible to attack the hashed value of your password using rainbow tables: enormous, pre-computed hash values for every possible combination of characters.
How enormous are rainbow tables? The smallest rainbow table available is the basic alphanumeric one, and even it is 388 megabytes. Note that all rainbow tables have specific lengths and character sets they work in. Top 10 Ways to Access Blocked Stuff on The Web.