An Improved Rainbow Table Attack for Long Passwords

Abstract

The password recovery of popular encryption applications has great practical significance not only for the circumstance of retrieving forgotten password but also for assisting law enforcement officers to implement data forensics. In this paper, we propose an improved password recovery method based on rainbow table attack which enables the recovery feasibility of long human chosen passwords. We combine advantage of dictionary generator and rainbow table to produce an efficient and smart approach of cracking long and complicated passwords. We present the detailed attack process and algorithms of this novel cracking method including dictionary generator specification, transform rules configuration as well as the design of kernel functions in rainbow table attack. Finally, we also provide a practical test and relevant analysis of password recovery result.