I am a total Newb...

[BadMrPat]

Hi, I have never posted on a thread before, but I just have no idea where to even start with this question. I am looking for some help with an "extra credit" problem a friend of mine gave me. I need to know some sort of information about what "1c714e8c8440bc6cc1ab23c39c11f92a" could represent, or where it could have come from. If somebody were inclined to help me with it, I would be eternally grateful. Also, if I am in the wrong place, I am very sorry. Thanks in advance.

[v0id]

What you have there is a MD5-sum. MD5 is a cryptographic has function, with a hash value of 128-bit. It's used to encrypt data, strings, etc.

Do you have to crack it, or just know anything about it? It's relative easy to crack MD5-sums, but can take some time.

If you're searching for information, try take a look at Wikipedia:
MD5 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Ronin]

I thought that MD5 was one way and not very easy to crack?

[v0id]

If it's f.ex. a looong password, encrypted with MD5 - it will take forever to crack, using Brute-Force. But small passwords with 5-10 characters can be cracked in some minutes, hours or maybe more, also using Brute-Force.

There's of course other alternatives; Dictionary Attack, RainbowTables Attack, etc.

[WingedPanther]

The thing with MD5 is that it's a hash. That means "cracking" it is really a matter of finding a collision, something that will hash to the same value, but may not have anything to do with the original value.

[v0id]

Originally Posted by WingedPanther

The thing with MD5 is that it's a hash. That means "cracking" it is really a matter of finding a collision, something that will hash to the same value, but may not have anything to do with the original value.

Exactly. From what I know there's no way to get the right value from a given MD5-sum, only using that sum. You have to make some permutations using different characters, numbers, etc. and then encrypt it using MD5, and then compare with the MD5-sum you wanted to "crack".

My favorite tool for cracking MD5 is "Cain", and it uses exactly that method.