Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free
CCNA Security Exam tutorials.
Get your
CCNA and CCNP certifications with The Bryant Advantage!
When you started studying for your CCNA certification exam, one of the very first things you learned was the major difference between the enable password and the enable secret – the enable secret is encrypted by default, where the enable password is just sitting there in clear text, waiting to be read!
When you look at the enable secret in a Cisco router configuration, it looks like it would be impossible to guess. After setting the enable secret on this router to the word security, here’s how it appears in the configuration:
enable secret 5 $1$24me$gVFxUOI4gYp0IQbhtH8Rz0
That password has been encrypted by MD5, the Message Digest 5 algorithm. The result of the MD5 algorithm being applied to the password is a 32-character hexadecimal value.
That password is hard to guess, but not terribly hard to crack. Anyone looking over your shoulder would not be able to come up with that password, but there are readily-available password cracking software devices that can crack that encryption in a matter of minutes. That’s true of any MD5-encrypted password, not just those on Cisco routers.
So what can we do about this? We can add SALT to our MD5.
The salt itself is simply a string of random characters that are added to the encryption process. Salting makes it much more difficult for a hacker to come up with the password; each bit added by the salt process literally makes it twice as difficult for the password to be compromised. A recent Wikipedia entry states that if a password was one of 200,000 words, a 32-bit salt would require 800 trillion hashes for a full-blown brute force attack.
The actual creation and application of a salt is beyond the scope of the CCNA Security exam, but once you’ve earned that valuable certification – or maybe while you’re preparing for it – do a Google search on “salt md5” and read up on this powerful security tool. In the meantime, look for more CCNA Security tutorials on the site you’re on now as well as my website!
- Related Videos
- Related Articles
- Ask / Related Q&A
- Computer Security Certification
- Get to Know about CompTIA Security+ Certification
- Get to know about CompTIA’s Security+ Certification
- Get to know about CompTIA’s Security+ Certification
- Cisco Security Certificates Mechanism And Its Aspects
- Cisco Releases New Ccna Security Certification
- SECURITY+ CERTIFICATION:sy0-101 Exam
- SECURITY+ CERTIFICATION: SY0-101 Exam
Plastic Containers For Your Food Business
By: Coy Mcdaniel | 20/12/2009Another proof of the versatility of plastic containers is its ability to hold a host of different things. These containers are not only packaging materials for beauty products or even common household materials we use at home but it can also be of great use for somebody who is in the food business. Being in the industry that demands cleanliness not only in the surrounding area where the food is being produced but also in al...
RF Device – Better Than Ordinary Bar Code Scanners
By: Coy Mcdaniel | 20/12/2009Perhaps you already have heard a lot of times about an RF device. But what do you think it really is? What are the benefits it can give to users and to the society as a whole? When someone such as a friend or child asks you what does this thing means, how will you explain? Well, you do not need to be an expert in order to understand and be able to relate to others the meaning of the subject. The term simply stands for radio fre...
Visit Polaris And Know More About Genuine Accessories For ATVs
By: Coy Mcdaniel | 20/12/2009Getting your most trusted brand of ATVs is such a chance of a lifetime especially that it bears the symbol of the world's leading all-terrain vehicle and snowmobile manufacturer. Polaris has the best reputation when it comes to innovating today's utility and sports vehicles. After several decades of successful development of powerful machines, this company is now proud to deliver to the people not only their wide array of vehicles b...
Powermat - What Gadgets Can You Charge With a Powermat Wireless Charger?
By: Coy Mcdaniel | 19/12/2009PowerMat is a new device on the market that allows you to wirelessly charge a range of gadgets, such as cellphones and handheld video games. You just drop them on the PowerMat - its magnets pull each device into the optimal position for charging, and then charge it via magnetic fields. Lights and sounds indicate the status of the device and tell you when it is fully charged (at which point the PowerMat is clever enough to switch off). What devices can you charge with PowerMat and ho...
Powermat - What Gadgets Can You Charge With a Powermat Wireless Charger?
By: Coy Mcdaniel | 19/12/2009PowerMat is a new device on the market that allows you to wirelessly charge a range of gadgets, such as cellphones and handheld video games. You just drop them on the PowerMat - its magnets pull each device into the optimal position for charging, and then charge it via magnetic fields. Lights and sounds indicate the status of the device and tell you when it is fully charged (at which point the PowerMat is clever enough to switch off). What devices can you charge with PowerMat and ho...
Get The Best ATV Deal This Christmas
By: Coy Mcdaniel | 19/12/2009Do you have an ATV or planning to buy one this Christmas? Then go for a Polaris all-terrain vehicle. This brand is undoubtedly the choice of many satisfied users all over the world. Well, there must be a lot of reasons why is this so. When you ask your neighbor who owns an all-terrain vehicle, you would hear an answer that most often heard from other users. People's responses would always tell about the excellent quality and the unsu...
Internet Marketing for Beginners
By: Expertadvertisingsolution | 19/12/2009In the history of mankind, the Internet has become a more comfortable way of. Online business makes more profit when compared to any other businesses and has created more millionaires. There are tens of thousands of people earning monthly income of $15, 000 and more.
Pass4side 642-845 study materials
By: Adela1987 | 19/12/2009pass4sdie are currently countless ways like, self study books, coaching centers and online resources escorting your exam training. But one of the most accepted and feasible approach is 642-845 braindumps that works wonders regardless of your current job or work routine. These brain braindumps are actually set of 642-845 questions copied from actual exams and let you know the real fac,ade of test pattern and contents of concern. This 642-845 sample exam actually gives you convenient practice for
Ccna Security Exam Tutorial: When It's Good to Add Salt
By: Chris Bryant | 07/11/2008 | Information TechnologyFor your CCNA security exam studies, you need to know when to add SALT, and where! Learn these vital details from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.