Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi, my name is Jaime,

I go to Scheck Hillel and for my science fair, I am doing the project on how easy it is to hack a password. I followed all the steps and if I do a simple password it works. But if I do a complex password and I get to method two, I think it stops. I've been running it for 2 days and it is still going. is it working? Please help me if you can. It would be great if I get an answer for today because I am running out if time.

Thank you so much for everything

Hi Jaime,

Sorry you did not get a reply on this last week. Were you able to get it working? If it's not too late, I might be able to help. How long is the password you were trying? 8-character passwords can take a long time to crack using the brute-force method. As written, method 2 will also only handle passwords up to 8 characters, so if you try something longer than that, it won't work at all. I'd recommend starting with shorter passwords and working your way up gradually to 8 characters. That way you can make sure the program is working.

Let me know if you have more questions.

-Ben