Password Recovery Attacks

Dictionary

Dictionary attack tries thousands of words from dictionary files as possible passwords. Every word from dictionary is tested in a variety of modifications according to the current dictionary settings.

Select Dictionary tab from Settings Dialog Box to control the following options:

Password length
The program will search for the password from the specified range.

Dictionary file location
Default dictionary file "dict.txt" is located in password recovery application installation folder. To change dictionary file click the Browse button and select your custom dictionary file. Dictionary file should be a plain text file with a single word per line.

Mutations
You can add mutations by clicking on checkboxes next to mutation types and choosing the number of mistypes.

Example:
if there is a word 'apple' in the dictionary and 'one mistype' and 'Capitalize the first letter' options are chosen, the program will check the following passwords: Apple, bplle, Bpple, aaple ... and so on.

Tips

• Click the Use Default Settings button to restore Dictionary settings to their original default values.
• Click the Estimate button for approximate time the attack takes with chosen options.
• Click the Get More Dictionaries button for getting information on obtaining additional dictionaries.

Notes

• Note that Symbol Set affects all attack types including Dictionary attack.

Brute-force

Brute-Force attack finds passwords by checking all possible combinations of characters from the Symbol Set.

Select Brute-Force tab from Settings Dialog Box to control the following options:

Password length
The program will search for the password of the specified length.

Use pattern
Defines the pattern that is used to generate passwords.

All '?' characters in the pattern are replaced by exactly one of the symbols from the active Symbol Set. I.e. pattern 'never?????' will match 'neveragain' and won't match 'forever', 'nevermore'. Pattern '????day' will match password 'goodday', but won't match password 'birthday'.

'*' character is replased by zero or more symbols from the active Symbol Set (this number depends on password length specified). I.e. pattern 'never*' will match 'never', 'neveragain', 'nevermore'.

You can use '?', '*', characters in the pattern by isolating with an '\' character, i.e. if you would like to search for password that starts with '\why*' you should set the pattern to '\why\**'.

Tips

• Click the Use Default Settings button to restore Brute-Force settings to their original default values.

Notes

• Note that Symbol Set affects all attack types including Brute-Force attack.

Xieve™

Xieve optimization dramatically boosts Brute-Force attack speed by skipping password checks of nonsense combinations of characters.

Select Xieve optimization tab from Settings Dialog Box to control the following options:

Password length
The program will search for the password from the specified range.

Use pattern
Defines the pattern that is used to generate passwords.

All '?' characters in the pattern are replaced by exactly one of the symbols from the active Symbol Set. I.e. pattern 'never?????' will match 'neveragain' and won't match 'forever', 'nevermore'. Pattern '????day' will match password 'goodday', but won't match password 'birthday'.

'*' character is replased by zero or more symbols from the active Symbol Set (this number depends on password length specified). I.e. pattern 'never*' will match 'never', 'neveragain', 'nevermore'.

You can use '?', '*', characters in the pattern by isolating with an '\' character, i.e. if you would like to search for password that starts with '\why*' you should set the pattern to '\why\**'.

Xieve level
You can define the level of Xieve optimization by choosing between Low, Medium and High. With High level the application works faster and recovery rate is lower.

Advanced settings
Xieve default action is to use build in cuts table. To create your own table use this option. You need to have dictionary with common words. Using these words application will build new table.

Tips

• Click the Use Default Settings button to restore Xieve settings to their original default values.
• Click on the Estimate button to calculate approximate time this attack can take.

Notes

• Note that Symbol Set affects all attack types including Xieve attack

SureZip™

SureZip™ Recovery decrypts Zip archives created with WinZip version 8.0 and earlier in less than an hour regardless of password used to protect it. At least 5 encrypted files are required in order to process the archive. Archives created with WinZip are supported.

Known Plaintext

If there is at least one file from a password protected Zip archive available unencrypted, Known Plaintext attack instantly decrypts the whole archive for you, regardless of the password length.

Select Known Plaintext tab from Settings Dialog Box to control the following options:

Plaintext file location
Plaintext file should be zipped without encryption file byte-by-byte equal to the one you have among others in the encrypted zip archive.

Use Key
If Known Plaintext attack has been performed previously and encryption key for this archive has been already found you can use it to decrypt the file.