Password Cracking System Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words

Password Cracking System - Research Paper Example Protecting an individual's data by restricting access to it can be done by means of placing a password entry request mechanism every time that particular data is accessed. There are however many means whereby which these passwords can be nullified. The Systems that enable the nullifying of passwords are referred to as "Password Cracking Mechanisms". This report is intended to throw a detailed light upon which password cracking mechanisms are and how they come into effect. Background The internet is an open medium which is accessible to just about anyone who logs on to it. While it has many benefits the internet is also not free of potential harmful activities. If personal information is left insecure and un attended on the internet there is a grave possibility that someone may alter it out of inquisitiveness or for the particular reason of harming information. It is in order to refrain from the altering of information that data is kept password protected. Data Integrity Data Integrit y is a fundamental concept that governs the transmitting of data and information from one point to another. One a broader scale it refers to the accuracy and consistency with which data traveling is made possible. Passwords, An Introduction Passwords are an inevitable part of the digital life that human beings lives nowadays. They are all around man. Every cell Phone holder needs them in order to authenticate himself to their personalized mobile phone. Even the broadband service providers need authentication from each user that connects to their Service stream. It is often required from users of passwords that they keep complex passwords that are unusual and difficult to guess so that they may not be guessed/hacked by unwanted internet users. One of the recommendation is also that multiple passwords are used to access websites and online services such as email and internet banking etcetera. Passwords are also used to secure computing systems and personalized files. Passwords pose to be safeguards of the security of an individual as long as they are not cracked. The reason that passwords are known to the concerned individual himself only passwords are thought to be secure. Problem with Passwords The problem with passwords is that individuals keep them such that they are either too easy to remember or too strong, so much so that they have to be written down. The simpler the passwords are, the easier and less time consuming it is to crack them. Research has shown that a password that is devoid of any punctuation marks and capital alphabets and is based on six characters takes around 'less than six seconds' to crack. This cracking duration changes to eight point five (8.5) days if the password is composed of alpha numeric characters. This is possible since al all small alphabet six digit password has the possibility of twenty six possibilities at each alphabet position for six times in the entire password. Similarly an alphanumeric password has the possibility of having 36 possibilities at each character position (since there are 26 alphabets and 10 numeric digits.) Since the common masses are unaware of the improvement in security just by the addition of a number as part of the password characters the percentage of people taking advantage of this edge in security are very few. A research conducted by iFusion Labs, suggests that around twenty percent of the digital technology users still keep very easily, simple and guess-able passwords- such as the names