# Hashcat: The Ultimate Guide to Password Cracking

Hashcat is a popular password recovery tool that can help you crack passwords using various attack modes. It is known for its speed and efficiency, making it a favorite among security professionals and ethical hackers. In this blog, we will dive into the basics of Hashcat, explore its various command options, and provide examples of how to use it effectively.

## What is Hashcat?

Hashcat is an advanced password recovery tool that supports a wide range of hashing algorithms. It is designed to be highly optimized for speed and can leverage the power of modern GPUs to accelerate the cracking process. Hashcat supports multiple attack modes, including dictionary attacks, brute-force attacks, and rule-based attacks.

## Installing Hashcat

Before we dive into the commands, let's start by installing Hashcat. You can download the latest version of Hashcat from the official website: [Hashcat](https://hashcat.net/hashcat/)

Once downloaded, you can extract the contents and navigate to the Hashcat directory.

## Basic Commands

### 1. Hashcat Help

To get a list of all available commands and options, you can use the `--help` flag:

```bash
hashcat --help
```

### 2. Specifying the Hash Type

Hashcat supports a wide range of hash types. You can specify the hash type using the `-m` option followed by the hash type number. For example, to specify MD5 hashes, you would use:

```bash
hashcat -m 0 hash.txt wordlist.txt
```

### 3. Dictionary Attack

A dictionary attack uses a wordlist to try and crack the hash. You can specify the wordlist file using the `-a 0` option. Here is an example:

```bash
hashcat -a 0 -m 0 hash.txt wordlist.txt
```

### 4. Brute-force Attack

A brute-force attack tries all possible combinations of characters to crack the hash. You can specify the character set and length using the `-a 3` option. Here is an example:

```bash
hashcat -a 3 -m 0 hash.txt ?a?a?a?a
```

### 5. Mask Attack

A mask attack is a more advanced form of brute-force attack where you can specify patterns for the password. Here is an example:

```bash
hashcat -a 3 -m 0 hash.txt ?u?l?l?d?d
```

### 6. Rule-based Attack

A rule-based attack applies transformations to words in a wordlist to generate new candidate passwords. You can specify the rule file using the `-r` option. Here is an example:

```bash
hashcat -a 0 -m 0 -r rules/best64.rule hash.txt wordlist.txt
```

### 7. Hybrid Attack

A hybrid attack combines a dictionary attack with a mask attack. You can specify the dictionary and mask using the `-a 6` option. Here is an example:

```bash
hashcat -a 6 -m 0 hash.txt wordlist.txt ?d?d?d
```

### 8. Restoring a Session

If you need to pause and resume a session, you can use the `--session` option to save the session state. Here is an example:

```bash
hashcat -a 0 -m 0 --session=my_session hash.txt wordlist.txt
```

To restore the session, use:

```bash
hashcat --restore --session=my_session
```

### 9. Benchmarking

You can benchmark the performance of Hashcat with different hash types using the `-b` option:

```bash
hashcat -b
```

## Conclusion

Hashcat is a powerful and versatile tool for password cracking. By understanding its various commands and options, you can effectively use Hashcat to recover passwords and assess the security of your systems. Remember to use Hashcat responsibly and only for ethical purposes.

Happy cracking!