Malware and Passwords

Question 1

Why do we need passwords

Answer 1

Passwords authenticate you as an authorised user based upon a shared secret between you and the system

Question 2

Define Hashing

Answer 2

A mathematical process that takes data of arbitrary size and maps it to a fixed-size hash value

Question 3

What are different ways to try and get hold of people’s passwords

Answer 3

Brute Force Attacks, Dictionary Attacks, Rainbow Table Attack

Question 4

Define Brute Force Attack

Answer 4

Hash and compare random phrases to the stored passwords, but it can take a long time

Question 5

Define Dictionary Attacks

Answer 5

Encrypt non-random phrases like a dictionary

Question 6

Define Rainbow Table Attacks

Answer 6

Store pre-computed, encrypted passwords and run the same attack

Question 7

What does Rainbow Table Attacks lead to

Answer 7

It leads to the practice of salting in which website adds arbitrary strings to all passwords to drastically increase the time this type of attack takes if the password is complex