Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU is alarmingly good at cracking passwords

Date:
Tue, 18 Oct 2022 13:42:39 +0000

Description:
Tech like Nvidias new flagship graphics card could make it easier for bad
guys to brute force passwords.

FULL STORY ======================================================================

Nvidias RTX 4090 graphics card is a bit of a dab hand when it comes to the power and brute force needed to crack passwords, it would seem.

As Toms Hardware reports, this comes from a security researcher, Sam Croley, who tweeted about the RTX 4090s muscle for this task, as gauged by benchmarks run with HashCat (a password cracking tool). First @hashcat benchmarks on the new @nvidia RTX 4090! Coming in at an insane >2x uplift over the 3090 for nearly every algorithm. Easily capable of setting records: 300GH/s NTLM and 200kh/s bcrypt w/ OC! Thanks to blazer for the run. Full benchmarks here: https://t.co/Bftucib7P9 pic.twitter.com/KHV5yCUkV4 October 14, 2022 See more

It seems the new Lovelace flagship has an insane uplift in cracking performance of over two times compared to the RTX 3090 for nearly every algorithm. The new GPU was particularly adept at brute force attacks, combinator attacks, dictionary attacks, mask attacks, and rule-based attacks.

As Toms observes, an estimate is provided that a system built specifically
for cracking, using eight RTX 4090 graphics cards (yes, a pricey endeavor) could uncover a password of eight characters in length the most common
amount in less than an hour (48 minutes).

If youre talking about insecure passwords you know the sort , password, 123456 or slightly more complicated but generally simple efforts then they can be cracked in the blink of an eye, more or less. Analysis: Password fears as more powerful cracking tech becomes more accessible

All this sounds pretty worrying, of course, but it doesnt mean your password defenses will crumble tomorrow (unless you are using simplistic passwords, or reusing passwords across sites, or any of those other bad security practices which, to be fair, dont require an RTX 4090 in the wrong hands to get you in hot water).

What this does serve is a reminder of how in-reach this kind of computing power now is, with a somewhat well-off gamer or PC enthusiast being able to grab an RTX 4090, and possibly misuse it along these lines.

How about really secure passwords? Or indeed those concocted by a password manager in all their seriously complex glory? Croley addresses a query in
that Twitter thread where a user asks how long itd take to fell a
15-character NTLM (Microsofts New Technology LAN Manager) password.

Croley replies: If its randomly generated with something like a password manager, too long. There are 95 characters in the common full character set, and 95^15 is too large of a keyspace for pretty much anyone to attack. Doesnt really matter how many 4090s or who they are, its still too big.

So is this an argument for getting yourself a password manager, then?
Perhaps, and its certainly food for thought. If youre mulling over grabbing such an app, then hop on over to our roundup of the best password managers , where we pick out the top performers in this field. And if you dont use an
app to keep your passwords watertight, make sure you arent taking silly shortcuts like using obvious passwords, or jotting them down in a pad somewhere, or similar



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/nvidia-rtx-4090-gpu-is-alarmingly-good-at-crack ing-passwords/


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)