Password cracking

Password cracking is the process of recovering secret passwords from data that has been stored in or transmitted by a computer system, typically, by repeatedly verifying guesses for the password. The purpose of password cracking might be to help a user recover a forgotten password (though installing an entirely new password is less of a security risk), to gain unauthorized access to a system, or as a preventive measure by the system administrator to check for easily crackable passwords.

See also

• Cryptographic key length
• Password-authenticated key agreement