Traditional Password cracking methods and their counter methods

The most widely Used Password cracking methods and their counter method to protect yourself.

There are many password cracking methods which does not require any high tech knowledge or special skills, out of which the most widely used password cracking methods are:

Social engineering

It is the most popular method to gather the passwords which does not require any special skills. Social engineering takes advantage of the trusting nature of human beings to gain information that later can be used maliciously. To obtain the password from this method, you just ask for it. In most of the cases the user won’t give their password or other sensitive information to you unless make them trust you or give them a reason to trust you.

So, the most important thing is the user awareness. You must be aware of the latest social engineering techniques or taking consistent defense training against social engineering. The most common password hacking techniques of social engineering method are phishing and fake phone calls.

Shoulder Surfing

Shoulder surfing (the act of looking over someone’s shoulder to see what the person is typing) is an effective, low-tech password hack. The bad guys simple collect the email, password or any other sensitive information by simply keeping an eye on the victim’s computer screen.

So, to protect yourself from such attacks, the password or other sensitive information must not be entered when any suspicious person is wandering around you.

Inference

This technique of password cracking is simply guessing the password such as mobile number, favorite movie or actor. The best defense method against this technique is educating the people about creating the strong and secure passwords that do not include any information that is associated with them directly or indirectly.