Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH v12) — Question 8

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, because it is primarily a networking utility used for reading from and writing to network connections, not for cracking passwords. In contrast, Hashcat and John the Ripper are specifically designed for password cracking, while THC-Hydra is a password-cracking tool for network services.