Hashes are commonly used to store sensitive information like credentials to avoid storing them in plaintext. With tools like Hashcat, it's possible to crack these hashes, but only if we know the algorithm used to generate the hash. Using a tool called hash-identifier, we can easily fingerprint any hashes to discover the right Hashcat mode to use to retrieve a password.
Aside from cracking hashes, hash-identifier is also helpful for identifying which hashing algorithm is being used to provide a checksum value for a download. And it can be used to determine what program a hashed file or value may belong to, such as an SQL database or another vendor-specific format.
What Is a Hash & How Do We Crack It?
When passwords are lifted from a database or computer, they're usually stored as hashes so that hackers can't read any passwords in plaintext. A hashing function turns the readable passwords into jumbled up messes of letters and numbers that should not be able to be reverse-engineered.
But two or more of the same passwords using the same hashing function will have the same hash, so one could determine the hashes for an entire password list using that hashing function, then use that data to determine the matching password. And that's what a lot of password-cracking tools do.
While hashes are better than storing a password in plaintext, they can still be cracked if a good rule or password list is used with Hashcat or another cracking program. But you can't just point Hashcat at any hash and expect it to work. Imagine Hashcat as a drill with many different sized bits. For each type of hash we ..
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