Top 10 GMail Password Cracking Techniques and How to Safeguard Your GMail Account

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Password security is one of the most sensitive areas when it comes to cybersecurity. Traditional passwords are often the weak link in the chain. According to research, a whopping 82% of data breaches were attributed to some kind of preventable human error, such as poorly guessed passwords or lax security.

Thankfully, hackers are very predictable in their approaches toward password attacks. Understanding the attack vectors and thus being able to recognize the patterns means that you will be able to outsmart the hackers and protect your application and users. In this article, well-cover what password attacks are, the top 10 most common ways a password can be cracked, and expert advice on what you can do to provide better security.

What is Password Cracking?

Password cracking, popularly known as password hacking, refers to that category of cyber-attacks aimed at intercepting or compromising user passwords. The ultimate goal of all these cyber-attacks is to "crack" or correctly guess the password that keeps significant accounts secured. The moment hackers gain unauthorized access to these credentials, they can log in into the accounts belonging to users and access confidential data, sensitive business information, among other key online resources. The motivations of password cracking by cyber-criminals can be in the form of material gains, ideological purposes, or just for fun. How Password Hacks Work

Password cracking can fall under two major categories of attack: online and offline.

• Online Password Attacks: This is an attack in which the hacker tries to key in possible passwords on a login page of an application. Though indeed it can be successful, clearly it is bound by network bandwidth and could relatively easily be detected in that a larger number of login attempts are arriving.
• Offline Password Attacks: This afford hackers much more time and flexibility. A hacker may intercept one or more password hashes-one-way-encrypted representations of passwords-in which they can take offline and deploy password cracking tools to decrypt them without any immediate constraint of time.

Common Password Cracking Techniques

There are a number of ways through which passwords can be cracked; following are ten of the most widely used techniques by cyber-criminals:

1. Brute Force Attacks

The very notion of brute force attacks is rather simple: a process of systematic testing of all character combinations until the very password is found. Nowadays, most of the brute-force attacks are run with the help of bots-automata that can perform some repetitive actions at very high speed. The simple brute force attempts are defeated rather easily with simple countermeasures, such as account lockouts after multiple failed login attempts. Where the technology evolved, the hackers did too. Now, there are more sophisticated methods of brute force that can get through these defenses.

2. Password Spraying

Password spraying is a bit more intelligent brute-force method, where one and the same common password is tried by a hacker against many user accounts at once. In this way, hackers can get away with such basic security measures as account lockouts in such situations. A lot of cybercriminals use bad or very common passwords such as "password" or "123456" to make the attack more effective with the use of lists of commonly used passwords.

3. Credential Stuffing

Another brute-force type of attack is credential stuffing. This is done by the attackers using credentials compromised through data breaches or the dark web to log into other accounts. Other than traditional brute-force attacks, which generate random guesses, credential stuffing exploits known combinations of usernames and passwords. Since most users reuse passwords across multiple platforms, one breach can help hackers gain access to plenty of accounts.

4. Dictionary Attacks

The hackers have lists of common words and variations they try to use in password guessing. This would be targeted towards groups or particular regions using terms the targeted group could understand. A hacker could also try using words from local businesses, common cultural references, and anything else that may make this method work. They can be prevented provided a strict password policy is implemented, which makes them unique and complex.

5. Mask attacks:

A mask attack is similar to a dictionary attack, except it is further filtered in application. In a mask attack, hackers use password patterns from various known data breaches and take their findings to apply to a "mask" that will ultimately filter the guesses of hackers. By reducing potential combinations based on common creation patterns, they can dramatically reduce the number of guesses needed.

6. Spidering

Spidering attacks are defined as extensive gathering of information about a target, which is usually bigger organizations. Hackers study internal and external communications, including social media, company websites, employee manuals, and marketing materials. They develop a list of identifying information that can then be applied to create potential password candidates to better guess passwords for key accounts.

7. Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) Attacks

Man-in-the-middle attacks represent such a form of attack, in which the hacker intercepts communications between a user and a website or another application. These can be active or passive attacks. In an active MitM attack, they are able to hijack sessions through the detection of active session IDs, afterward using them to breach accounts. In passive attacks, cybercriminals can even set up free unsecured Wi-Fi networks that could monitor every online activity of users connecting to their fake network.

8. Rainbow Tables

These rainbow tables become an advanced version of the directories using password hash algorithms that provide all the possible plaintext versions for an encrypted password. These tables are used by hackers for quick determination of the stolen password hashes against known plaintext passwords and thus to stay away from extensive password guessing.

9. Phishing

The different techniques involved in this are generally methods of social engineering, which normally influence users to willingly give away their passwords. Normally, hackers send some fake emails or SMS with alluring messages, requiring the victim to either click on malicious links or provide personal information using fake login screens. The type of phishing can range from certain generic email scams to highly targeted attacks, like those which appear similar to official communications of well-known companies.

10. Malware

Malware simply refers to malicious software, which is meant to steal passwords and sensitive information from the infected device. Most malware is distributed via links in phishing emails or even infected attachments. Two of the common kinds of malware include:

1. Spyware: It is a type of software used to monitor activities of computer users in secrecy and gather sensitive information, which includes passwords, PINs, and details related to payments.
2. Keylogger: It is spyware, which records each and every stroke of the keys that a user types in the system. This way, hackers are able to intercept the passwords when they are being typed in.

Password Cracking Tools

The attackers are provided with a range of various tools to perform password cracking attacks, especially offline attacks. In this context, the following are some of the popular password cracking tools:

• John the Ripper: This is a very extensible and open-source tool with support for a wide variety of hash types. It is designed to run on both Linux and macOS. It potentially automatically detects a wide range of password hashes.
• Cain and Abel: This is a very user-friendly, popular tool for starters; it runs only on Windows and has a very friendly graphical interface. It supports a variety of password recovery techniques, including brute force and dictionary attacks.
• Other Tools: Other popular password cracking utilities are Ophcrack, Hashcat, and THC Hydra; these too are severe threats to application security.

Identifying Vulnerable Passwords

Certain characteristics make passwords highly vulnerable to cracking:

• Poor Passwords: Poor passwords are those which one can easily guess or predict. About 30% of all internet users fell victim to a breach because of poor passwords. Common examples of poor passwords include default passwords, or just very simple phrases.
• Password Reuse: Several accounts are hard for users to remember; therefore, they use the same password on different platforms. Actually, 52 percent of users reuse their passwords, which highly exposes them in cases of credential stuffing.
• Insecure Connections: Users connecting their devices to open public Wi-Fi expose themselves to attacks in MitM fashion. A cyber thief may intercept sensitive data being transmitted across the connection in transit, including passwords.

Strategies to Defend Against Password Cracking

No security measure can completely remove the threat of password cracking. However, you can take a few measures to optimize your defenses considerably. Encourage Good Password Practices

One way to defeat simple brute-force attacks is to use good password hygiene. Consider guidelines that force things like:

• Passwords must include lowercase letters, uppercase letters, digits, and special characters. This sets a higher complexity for password permutations for hackers to attempt.
• Implement Multi-Factor Authentication, this can be one of the most significant additions in shoring up a person's account. Due to the breach of a password, most are made to demand the need for extra verification, such as text messages or authentication apps, in which case it is highly difficult for unauthorized access to take place.

Keep Security Updates Rolling

Periodically review and enhance application security. Here, frequent releases are at an advantage because a constant enhancement of the security mechanisms allows for rapid reactions to newly emerging threats and vulnerabilities.

Security Awareness Education to Users

User education also covers such aspects as current actual security threats, phishing, and safe online behavior. The ability of a user to recognize a suspicious message minimizes the risk of successful attacks.

Conclusion

Password cracking has grown in level and sophistication right along with growth in cyber threats. A study of password-cracking techniques will, therefore, be helpful to developers and users. Since it shows some awareness of the attacks generally used, one can provide extra security to protect sensitive information and help create a safer online environment. Strong passwords and educated users can go a long way in strengthening the most common kinds of password-cracking attacks. Pay attention to security concerns of your applications not to lose the trust of your users.