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EC-Council

312-50V11 · Question #238

Eve stole a file named secret.txt, transferred it to her computer and she just entered these commands: What is she trying to achieve?

The correct answer is B. She is using John the Ripper to crack the passwords in the secret.txt file. John the Ripper is a password auditing tool used to recover plaintext passwords from stolen hash files through dictionary, brute force, or rule-based attacks.

System Hacking

Question

Eve stole a file named secret.txt, transferred it to her computer and she just entered these commands:

What is she trying to achieve?

Exhibit

312-50V11 question #238 exhibit

Options

  • AShe is using ftp to transfer the file to another hacker named John.
  • BShe is using John the Ripper to crack the passwords in the secret.txt file
  • CShe is encrypting the file.
  • DShe is using John the Ripper to view the contents of the file.

How the community answered

(46 responses)
  • A
    4% (2)
  • B
    87% (40)
  • C
    2% (1)
  • D
    7% (3)

Why each option

John the Ripper is a password auditing tool used to recover plaintext passwords from stolen hash files through dictionary, brute force, or rule-based attacks.

AShe is using ftp to transfer the file to another hacker named John.

FTP is a network protocol for transferring files between hosts and cannot crack, parse, or analyze the contents of a stolen credential file.

BShe is using John the Ripper to crack the passwords in the secret.txt fileCorrect

John the Ripper is a well-known open-source password cracking utility. When Eve runs it against secret.txt - which likely contains password hashes - the tool systematically attempts to recover the plaintext credentials using wordlists or brute force methods. Stealing a password hash file and running John the Ripper locally is a classic offline password cracking attack that bypasses account lockout controls.

CShe is encrypting the file.

Encrypting a file requires cryptographic utilities such as gpg, openssl, or a similar tool; John the Ripper performs password cracking, not encryption.

DShe is using John the Ripper to view the contents of the file.

John the Ripper is designed specifically to recover passwords from hash values, not to display or read the raw contents of a file.

Concept tested: John the Ripper offline password cracking technique

Source: https://www.openwall.com/john/

Topics

#John the Ripper#password cracking#offline attack#password hash

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