Which tool is widely used for password recovery by trying millions of combinations per second?

Question

Options

• ACain & Abel
• BJohn the Ripper
• CNessus
• DWireshark

• A
  5% (1)
• B
  89% (17)
• D
  5% (1)

Explanation

John the Ripper is the correct answer because it is a purpose-built, open-source password cracking tool renowned for its ability to perform high-speed brute-force, dictionary, and hybrid attacks - testing millions of password combinations per second across many hash types (MD5, SHA, NTLM, etc.).

Why the others are wrong:

• A. Cain & Abel is a Windows-only password recovery and network sniffing tool; while it can crack passwords, it is better known for ARP poisoning and credential interception rather than raw cracking speed.
• C. Nessus is a vulnerability scanner used to identify misconfigurations and CVEs - it has nothing to do with password cracking.
• D. Wireshark is a packet/network traffic analyzer used to capture and inspect data in transit - not a password cracking tool.

Memory tip: Think "John the Ripper rips through passwords" - the word "Ripper" directly implies tearing through combinations at high speed, making it the only tool name that semantically matches the task of cracking passwords rapidly.

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