generate hashes on the fly for all the passwords in the dictionary.

recognize the hash type of the current hash.

This makes John very effective when cracking systems with weak passwords. While you can use popular wordlists like RockYou, John also has its own set of wordlists with thousands of common passwords. Here is a common password list called rockyou.txt. This means that it works with a dictionary of common passwords to compare it with the hash in hand.

This will save you a lot of time in researching the hash formats and finding the correct tool to crack them. One remarkable feature of John is that it can autodetect the encryption for common formats. John supports many encryption technologies for Windows and Unix systems (Mac included). John the Ripper (JtR) is a popular password-cracking tool. This can include login passwords, file passwords, and almost anything that is protected using a password.

If you are a pen-tester, cracking passwords is something you will be doing on a daily basis.

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