Cracking Passwords in Forensic Investigations - Scholarly ...

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Therefore, there is a motivation to perform research in order to plan and gain control over the costs or time required for password cracking. Hence, this research proposes the use of a budgeting model to plan and allocate resources for password cracking cases. 1.3 EXPECTED FINDINGS The research to be performed will be based on a budgeting model (described in section 3.2.1). The experiment will be a simulation of hypothetical password cracking cases and will be planned in advance using the budgeting model and an experimental design. The time budgets for groups or blocks of passwords will be calculated and the resources needed for password cracking will be allocated. Then, the budgeting model and the experimental design will be followed and evaluated. The data to be collected will consist of the password cracking times. Finally, the budgeting model will be evaluated on the criterion of whether all the passwords were cracked within the allocated time budget. This research expects all of the passwords to be cracked within the allocated time budget, since the budgeting model will be based on the relevant theory within the area of password cracking. It also expects the exact password cracking times for all the passwords to be variable in nature. It is expected that this research will be able to add to the knowledge of best-practice advice for forensic investigators. Also, the evaluation of the research design and entire research process will help in understanding any improvements to the budgeting model or the experimental processes. Since the experimental processes will be a simulation of hypothetical cases, the evaluation may also help to further add to best-practice knowledge and advice for digital forensic investigators. Digital forensic investigators will thus be able to use the knowledge or advice and apply it to real life cases (within constraints and limitations). 1.4 CONCLUSION AND STRUCTURE OF THESIS This chapter has described the background of the study of passwords. Advantages and disadvantages of the use of passwords have been discussed; the disadvantages include the use of a password by a malicious person to encrypt incriminating information. Due to the security provided by passwords and encryption 5
technologies, there exist challenges for digital forensic investigators seeking to gain access to relevant encrypted evidence. The challenges faced by the forensic investigator in the field of password cracking were discussed in section 1.1. These challenges included the decreasing speed of password cracking and the ambiguity of the outcome of the password cracking process. These two main problems are the source of other problems, including slow investigation time, an increase in the costs of investigations, and an increase in the time taken for legal cases. The factors motivating this research were discussed in section 1.2, where the past studies motivating this research were reviewed. Those published reports have motivated this effort to study and evaluate the processes involved in planning and gaining control over the costs and time required for password cracking. The current research proposes the use of a budgeting model to plan and allocate resources for password cracking cases. The expected outcomes of the research were discussed in section 1.3. This thesis has been structured as follows. This chapter consists of an introduction to the topic of research. Chapter 2 consists of the literature review, which defines the theory required for the research study. Chapter 3 specifies the methodology of this research study. First it reviews the studies similar to this research, which help to derive a methodology for this research. Then it defines the proposed budgeting model and experimental design, the research design, and the research questions and hypotheses. Chapter 4 then reports the research findings. The procedures followed in the research and deviations that were encountered are outlined. Then, the research findings are reported along with their analysis and presentation. The research questions are answered in Chapter 5 and the research hypotheses are tested. The research design is evaluated and the budgeting procedure recommended for forensic investigators in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 consists of a summary of findings and recommendations for further research. The references used and appendices then follow. 6
Page 1 and 2: Cracking Passwords in Forensic Inve
Page 3 and 4: iii Acknowledgements This thesis wa
Page 5 and 6: v Abstract Digital Forensic Investi
Page 7 and 8: vii Table of Contents Declaration .
Page 9 and 10: ix Chapter 4 - Research Findings 4.
Page 11 and 12: xi List of Tables Table 2.1: The Mo
Page 13 and 14: xiii List of Abbreviations AMD Adva
Page 15 and 16: 1.1 PROBLEMS FOR DIGITAL FORENSIC I
Page 17: approach improves the password crac
Page 21 and 22: 2.1 PASSWORDS AND PASSWORD RECOVERY
Page 23 and 24: 2.1.2 Unix/Linux MD5 Password Schem
Page 25 and 26: encrypting the information within s
Page 27 and 28: iii) If possible, create a custom d
Page 29 and 30: Since all possible permutations and
Page 31 and 32: L0phtCrack 6 supports the retrieval
Page 33 and 34: i) Decryption attack: As discussed
Page 35 and 36: Full cost refers to the total amoun
Page 37 and 38: As shown in Table 2.3, a password w
Page 39 and 40: 5) Weir, Aggarwal, Medeiros, and Gl
Page 41 and 42: the speed of cracking and the attac
Page 43 and 44: is inevitable) but rather the optim
Page 45 and 46: Klein (1990) addressed the most com
Page 47 and 48: character hashing. Thus, for passwo
Page 49 and 50: experiments were conducted by gener
Page 51 and 52: obtained via phishing attacks on th
Page 53 and 54: Bengtsson (2007) outlined a literat
Page 55 and 56: applications whose passwords need t
Page 57 and 58: equired for computing and testing.
Page 59 and 60: 3.2.3 The Research Questions and Hy
Page 61 and 62: main experiment, which is the next
Page 63 and 64: 12,500 x 8 = 100,000 passwords/seco
Page 65 and 66: 3.3.5 Data Map Figure 3.2: Research
Page 67 and 68: 4.0 INTRODUCTION Chapter 4 Research
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4.1.2 Time Budgeting The time budge
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Another computer with the same conf
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minutes, and 24.8 days respectively
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vishal@vishal-desktop:~$ sudo addus
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Table 4.4: Monitoring/action-perfor
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4.3 ANALYSIS OF DATA The experiment
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Table 4.6: First 10 accounts’ pas
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DD:HH:MM:SS format, similar to the
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4.4 PRESENTATION OF DATA FINDING Af
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Figure 4.8 shows the time taken for
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Figure 4.11 displays the comparison
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5.0 INTRODUCTION Chapter 5 Research
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Thus, the simulation mirrored the f
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Table 5.1: Testing hypothesis H0 Hy
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Table 5.3: Testing hypothesis H2 Hy
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Q3: What are the guidelines for bes
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Since the passwords were arranged i
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Analysis (see Section 3.2.3). All f
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information for forensic investigat
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5.3.1.2 Second Step - Find Password
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Therefore, T (in seconds) = 12,500,
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6.0 RESEARCH SUMMARY Chapter 6 Conc
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udgets, the passwords were added to
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SECONDARY RESEARCH QUESTION 3: What
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overcome the security barriers of p
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Clayton, R., & Bond, M. (2003). Exp
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Openwall Project. (2010). John the
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APPENDIX 1: Time Budget Calculation
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51 Bas -2-38 TOTAL TIME REQUIRED FO
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96 Bas -2-27 97 Bas -2-28 98 Bas -2
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140 Adv -1-26 141 Bas -3-07 142 Adv
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182 Adv -1-21 183 Adv -1-22 Diction
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main12:$1$CSD0Tppt$0gO4c883evmn9sQR
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main41.txt: main41:$1$B43.jKTn$5EPi
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main70.txt: main70:$1$7kHK0PnH$yJ5x
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main99:$1$UQiTB..u$SJUkwarkM1kzvnvt
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main128.txt: main128:$1$n7OEbAyB$d6
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main157.txt: main157:$1$VRmaYxPu$Iy
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main186:$1$HFNaeUkb$t1lZ5QcrH9iy8G/
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SHA 1: a168282ad70a94fbb8d5917f3505
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C:\Main Test\MainTest-passwdFiles\B
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Job Started: 7/13/10 8:49:24 File M
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File Modified: 7/13/10 6:58:08 SHA
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File Version: Unknown Job Started:
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SHA 1: b95b12e95c70b66df01af148502e
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File Size: 60 File Version: Unknown
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Job Status: Finished on 7/13/10 8:5
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Identified Type: *nix passwd File S
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Password Type: Password Where Found
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Job Status: Finished on 7/13/10 10:
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MD5: df7c66c8b6b8528176d42314926021
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Result: trapezoidal@ Description: U
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Where Found: (ADV-1-20) Dictionary
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Password Type: Password Where Found
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Where Found: (BAS-3-04) Dictionary
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Commonly Registered Type: crypt use
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Where Found: --- C:\Main Test\MainT
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MD5: 17632fca93fa27bb8d0a89c80a2ba9
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Description: Unknown Password Type:
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File Version: Unknown Job Started:
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APPENDIX 4: Time Analysis for all B
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main60 main61 main62 main63 main64
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main127 main128 main129 main130 mai
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main192 main193 main194 main195 mai
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