Wireless cracking: there's an app for that

Abstract

Recent advances in the graphics processor power – and software that exploits that processor power – mean that it is now possible to assemble a Windows PC capable of brute force password cracking at speeds of several million attempts every second. And network scanning and cracking tools are now even making it on to smartphones and tablets. Recent advances in processor power mean that it is now possible to assemble a Windows PC capable of brute force password cracking at speeds of several million attempts every second. And network scanning and cracking tools are now even making it on to smartphones and tablets. Most app-based tools for network reconnaissance and enumeration are available on the Android platform, although there are useful apps on Apple's iOS platform too. Steve Gold looks at the current state of the technology, tries out a couple of the apps and shows how useful they can be to the security researcher or penetration tester.