[ Hacker Night School ] :: Cain & Abel: Hacking Windows passwords and more with Biblical glee

Cain & Abel is a “password recovery tool” that runs on Windows, and targets Windows. It’s actually two tools, one that sniffs the network looking for LM or NTLM passwords (and a lot of other stuff like recording VOIP calls, doing WEP cracking, performing wireless packet injection and more), and one that can crack a really vast array of hashed passwords. See a full list at its Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain_and_Abel_(software)

This toolkit came out in 2001 and has been through several updates, most recently in 2018. The main website is:
http://www.oxid.it/ca_um/

Oddly, the installer isn’t available directly from oxid.it. You’ll have to Google for the installer, which is called ca_setup.exehttps://softfamous.com/cain-abel/download/. There are in theory 32-bit and 64-bit versions, though only the one installer (that I’ve seen). One location I’ve used is:
https://softfamous.com/cain-abel/download/

Windows requires a patch to perform promiscuous capture (true for any Windows network hacking tool), usually WinPCap. Windows 10 has made it just a little more complex to install, though it’s not really hard.

Basic usage is easy, and the GUI is pretty simple and clear. You can find lots of videos about it on Youtube, for instance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnmShgAd9TE
which covers Windows 10 installation and use.

This tool will make you think about Windows authentication (a lot), because it’s so vulnerable. That’s one reason hackers use Linux and victims use Windows. It will also help you understand packet capture, network functioning and password hashing, all of which you’ll need to master on your road to becoming a true hacker.

Use these powers only for good, young padwan. Have fun –