Crack (password software)

Crack
Developer(s)Alec Muffett
Stable release
5.0a / June, 2000
Operating systemUnix
Typepassword cracking
Websitewww.crypticide.com

Crack is a Unix password cracking program designed to allow system administrators to locate users who may have weak passwords vulnerable to a dictionary attack. Crack was the first standalone password cracker for Unix systems[1][2][3][4] and the first to introduce programmable dictionary generation as well.

Crack began in 1990 when Alec Muffett, a Unix system administrator at the University of Wales Aberystwyth, was trying to improve Dan Farmer's pwc cracker in COPS. Muffett found that by re-engineering the memory management, he got a noticeable performance increase. This led to a total rewrite[5] which became Crack v2.0 and further development to improve usability.

  1. ^ David R. Mirza Ahmad; Ryan Russell (25 April 2002). Hack proofing your network. Syngress. pp. 181–. ISBN 978-1-928994-70-1. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  2. ^ William R. Cheswick; Steven M. Bellovin; Aviel D. Rubin (2003). Firewalls and Internet security: repelling the wily hacker. Addison-Wesley Professional. pp. 129–. ISBN 978-0-201-63466-2. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  3. ^ Venema, Wietse (1996-07-01). "Murphy's law and computer security". Proceedings of the Sixth USENIX UNIX Security Symposium. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  4. ^ Anonymous (2003). Maximum security. Sams Publishing. pp. 269–. ISBN 978-0-672-32459-8. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  5. ^ Muffett, Alec (15 July 2004). "Crypticide I: Thirteen Years of Crack". blog post. Retrieved 2012-02-17.