Linux Password Cracking
For many years, the Unix and Linux operating systems (OSs) have been the backbone of the infrastructure of many companies, as well as the internet as a whole. Unix and Linux are sometimes referred to interchangeably due to the similarities between many of the OS components. However, at their core, Unix is an older OS that has typically been a proprietary, licensed solution, while Linux evolved as a free and open source OS. This does not mean there are no versions of Linux that you pay for; rather, these are often for support and maintenance purposes. As such, while this chapter will typically refer to Linux, most of this guidance can be used with Unix as well.
In this chapter, we’re going to cover the following main topics:
- Collecting Linux password hashes
- Formatting/converting hashes into their expected formats
- Cracking hashes
A note about Linux passwords
Depending on your objective and the reason for password cracking, you...
