Ethical Hacking Essentials Practice Test

Which tool allows an attacker to crack passwords of the target system?

1. MegaPing

2. THC Hydra

3. Medusa

4. nmap

The correct answer is: Medusa

The selected answer, Medusa, is indeed a tool specifically designed for password cracking and is commonly utilized in penetration testing scenarios. Medusa operates with a focus on speed and parallelization, which means it can perform multiple password guesses against services such as FTP, HTTP, and SSH simultaneously. This efficiency makes it a popular choice for ethical hackers seeking to identify weak passwords in a target system. Medusa offers a modular design allowing users to customize the types of attacks used and the protocols targeted. The tool supports various authentication mechanisms and provides options for using different attack methodologies, such as dictionary attacks or brute force. This versatility is essential for investigators conducting assessments on the security of user credentials. On the other hand, choices like MegaPing and nmap primarily serve different purposes. MegaPing is a tool aimed at network diagnostics and monitoring, while nmap is a widely used network scanning tool that helps enumerate hosts and services on a network but does not specialize in password cracking. THC Hydra is another valid password cracking tool similar to Medusa but does not hold the same reputation in certain circles for its user interface and the types of attacks it supports. Therefore, Medusa stands out in this context for its focus on cracking passwords effectively within various protocols, making it the best