John the Ripper is a password security auditing and password recovery tool available for many operating systems.
John the Ripper jumbo supports hundreds of hash and cipher types, including for: user passwords of Unix flavors (Linux, *BSD, Solaris, AIX, QNX, etc.), macOS, Windows, “web apps” (e.g., WordPress), groupware (e.g., Notes/Domino), and database servers (SQL, LDAP, etc.); network traffic captures (Windows network authentication, WiFi WPA-PSK, etc.); encrypted private keys (SSH, GnuPG, cryptocurrency wallets, etc.), filesystems and disks (macOS .dmg files and “sparse bundles”, Windows BitLocker, etc.), archives (ZIP, RAR, 7z), and document files (PDF, Microsoft Office’s, etc.) These are just some of the examples – there are many more.
This is free and open source software.
Website: github.com/openwall/john
Support:
Developer: Solar Designer and others
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
John the Ripper is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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I remember trying JTR many moons ago. Around the same time, I was playing the boardgame, Trivial Pursuit, and a question came up. The answer was Jack the Ripper but I answered too quickly and instead said, John the Ripper. 😬
It’s funny how computer software triggers other recollections. Re Jack the Ripper and John the Ripper, this reminds me of the classic film “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1952). In particular, Gwendolen’s comment about Jack / John.
Jack? . . . No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations . . . I have known several Jacks, and they all, without exception, were more than usually plain. Besides, Jack is a notorious domesticity for John! And I pity any woman who is married to a man called John. She would probably never be allowed to know the entrancing pleasure of a single moment’s solitude. The only really safe name is Ernest.
Thanks for bringing up that film – some good points made.
The line I recall the most from that film is Edith Evans’s delivery of “A handbag?“. 😀