[ NNSquad ] 25-GPU cluster cracks every standard Windows password in <6 hours

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

25-GPU cluster cracks every standard Windows password in <6 hours

http://j.mp/12hTcy0  (ars technica)

   "The five-server system uses a relatively new package of virtualization
    software that harnesses the power of 25 AMD Radeon graphics cards. It
    achieves the 350 billion-guess-per-second speed when cracking password
    hashes generated by the NTLM cryptographic algorithm that Microsoft
    has included in every version of Windows since Server 2003. As a
    result, it can try an astounding 95^8 combinations in just 5.5 hours,
    enough to brute force every possible eight-character password
    containing upper- and lower-case letters, digits, and symbols. Such
    password policies are common in many enterprise settings. The same
    passwords protected by Microsoft's LM algorithm-which many
    organizations enable for compatibility with older Windows
    versions-will fall in just six minutes."

 - - -

Of course, you need access to the hashes to do this.   If sites didn't
make stupid errors that exposed their hash files, this approach would
not be particularly useful in most cases.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren 
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Founder:
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org 
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
 - Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org
 - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: http://vortex.com/t-lauren 
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
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