| 11 December 2012
A new attack makes some password cracking faster, easier than ever. A researcher has devised a method that reduces the time and resources required to crack passwords that are protected by the SHA1 cryptographic algorithm.
Tal Be'ery, Web Researcher at Imperva has looked into the SHA1 methodology and why companies should stay clear of using this method to protect passwords:
"First, some context. One of the main use cases for hashing function, such as the SHA-1 function, is to store passwords securely. When attackers obtain such hashed password, they need to launch a “brute force” attack against it, in order to reveal the password. “Brute force” means, they need to repeatedly guess the password, apply the hashing function on it and compare the result with their hash password they have. The security researcher has found an algorithmic shortcut in SHA-1 calculation that makes the computation easier, thus reducing the time needed to successfully “brute force” an attack.
The corollary? In case the hashing is done for security (e.g. hash user passwords, verify data integrity, etc.):
MD5 is dead and should never be used.
SHA-1 is going in the same direction. Consider an upgrade of existing systems and definitely don't use it for new systems.
A smart choice would be to follow the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommendation for federal agencies: "Federal agencies should stop using SHA-1 for generating digital signatures, generating time stamps and for other applications that require collision resistance."
Best option? Use a hash function from SHA-2 family, such as the SHA256."
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