Password Hacking Made Easy

Update: Upon further review, all posts on this blog shall begin as follows: For the record, I was not looking for porn when I discovered this...

[Insert edit] For the record, I was not looking for porn when I discovered this article. [/edit] A quick read of Fark this morning led me to an article on Ten Windows Password Myths. Sounds interesting, right? Well imagine my concern when I don't even understand what the hell the first myth is even talking about. "Many readers will be familiar with the weaknesses in LanManager (LM) password hashes that made L0phtcrack so popular." Uh, what?

Unfortunately, wikipedia failed me for a simple explanation. A quick search of "password hashes" led me to this wiki article which includes ASCII art and programming code--not exactly what I was looking for. Okay, so now I'm starting to feel really stupid. I'm apparently not familiar with the weakness of LanManager like many readers, and now I can't even seem to understand a wikipedia article. This is bad.

Since my normal search failed me (going to Google and putting the subject of interest in the search box followed by the phrase "wiki"), it was time to do the unthinkable--search the whole Internet. Ah, success! Read this great FAQ on password basics. Although, I'm ready to start hacking passwords now after reading the article. Funny how the best information out there is from the dark side. If you excuse me now, I'm going to go brush up on how to attack other computers anonymously.

Perfect Passwords