Hashcat Password Recovery

Overview

Hashcat is the world's fastest password recovery tool, supporting over 300 hash algorithms and multiple attack modes. This skill covers authorized password auditing, forensic password recovery, and security research applications.

IMPORTANT: Password cracking must only be performed on hashes you are authorized to crack. Unauthorized password cracking is illegal. Always ensure proper authorization and legal compliance.

Quick Start

Basic password cracking:

# Identify hash type
hashcat --example-hashes | grep -i md5

# Dictionary attack on MD5 hash
hashcat -m 0 -a 0 hashes.txt wordlist.txt