Rainbow Tables and Password Cracking ECES Practice Questions (Page 1)

Questions 1–5

1. 1foundation · easy

   What is a key difference between a dictionary attack and a rainbow table attack?

   • ADictionary attacks hash each word during the attack, while rainbow tables use precomputed hashes
   • BDictionary attacks are always faster than rainbow tables
   • CDictionary attacks can crack any password, while rainbow tables only crack dictionary words
   • DDictionary attacks require more storage than rainbow tables
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2. 2foundation · easy

   What is the primary input required by a tool like RainbowCrack to crack a hash?

   • AA list of salts used by the target system
   • BA dictionary file containing common passwords
   • CA rainbow table that matches the hash algorithm and password space
   • DThe private key used to encrypt the hash
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4. 3application · medium

   A penetration tester needs to crack a set of NTLM hashes from a Windows system. The tester has a machine with 500 GB of free disk space and a few hours to complete the task. The password policy enforces 8-character passwords from a 95-character printable ASCII set. Which approach is most appropriate given the constraints?

   • AUse a dictionary attack with common password lists and rule-based mutations.
   • BPerform a brute-force attack over all 95^8 combinations using a GPU cluster.
   • CGenerate a rainbow table covering the full 95^8 keyspace and use RainbowCrack to look up the hashes.
   • DBuild a simple lookup table of all 95^8 hashes and store it on the 500 GB disk.
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5. 4application · medium

   An analyst is using a rainbow table to crack a hash. The table has a chain length of 1,000. The analyst applies the reduction function to the target hash and gets a value that matches an endpoint in the table. What is the next step?

   • ACheck if the target hash is the first element of the chain.
   • BApply the reduction function one more time to get the password.
   • CImmediately output the value that matched the endpoint as the password.
   • DReconstruct the chain from the corresponding start point, applying hash and reduction alternately, until the target hash appears.
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6. 5foundation · easy

   What is the effect of increasing the chain length when generating a rainbow table?

   • AIt decreases the table's coverage but reduces storage
   • BIt has no effect on the table's properties
   • CIt increases the table's coverage but also increases lookup time
   • DIt makes the table easier to use but harder to generate
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