Cracking FTP Passwords Using Dictionary Attacks
In layman language, Dictionary attack means using a tool that picks passwords from a wordlist and tries them one by one until one works
How to make a wordlist ?
A wordlist can consist of all possible combinations of letter,numbers,special characters. It can have some common or default passwords. You can download the wordlist generators or google the wordlists for bruteforcing and configure them according to yourself.
How fruitful attack can be ?
If we are try all possible combinations of letter,numbers,special characters, theoretically chances of success are 100%. But practically it is not possible to try every combination because it can take a lot of time. This attack just depends on the time you give,processing power and ofcourse your luck.
Tool I will be using ?
- THC Hydra
Download THC Hydra from here
(a) Make a usename wordlist consisting of some common usernames like this
(b) Get a wordlist of passwords
(c) Copy both wordlists to your hydra folder
(a)Open the command prompt and change directory to your hydra folder using cd command.
(b) Type "hydra" without quotes and it will show you the options to use.
(c) Now to start attak,
Type "hydra -L userslist.txt -P passlist.txt xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx ftp" and press enter
where userslist.txt is the list of usernames, passlist.txt is the list of passwords and xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address of target, Now it will start cracking
To use a single username instead of wordlist , Replace capital L with small l , like this
Type "hydra -l username -P passlist.txt xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx ftp"
Note : Ftp port must be open.
Warning: I highly recommend you to use a chain of proxies to spoof your identity because proper logs of user's IP addresses who try to connect to ftp server is made on the server. Here is an example of the same.
Countermeasures to protect yourself from this attack:
1. Use strong passwords
2. Enable Autoban of IPs or anyother option like this.
About The Author
This is a guest post written by Aneesh M Makker. Aneesh M.Makker is an Ethical hacker from Malout, a town in Punjab.Click here to visit his Facebook Profile