Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH v11) — Question 378

Tony is a penetration tester tasked with performing a penetration test. After gaining initial access to a target system, he finds a list of hashed passwords.
Which of the following tools would not be useful for cracking the hashed passwords?

Answer options

• A. Hashcat
• B. John the Ripper
• C. THC-Hydra
• D. netcat

Correct answer: D

Explanation

The correct answer is D, netcat, as it is primarily a networking utility used for reading from and writing to network connections, not for password cracking. In contrast, Hashcat and John the Ripper are dedicated password recovery tools designed specifically for cracking hashed passwords, and THC-Hydra is a network login cracker, making them all relevant for this task.