What is Dictionary File to Recover Password and How It Works

Dictionary File to recover password is a common password recovery method. Along with Brute Force Attack and Brute-force with Mask Attack, these three password recovery methods are almost used on all Password Cracker. In this article, we will walk through what Dictionary File to Recover Password and how it works for password recovery.

Part 1: What is Dictionary File to Recover Password?

According to WiKi, a dictionary attack (Dictionary File to Recover Password) is a technique for defeating a cipher or authentication mechanism by trying to determine its decryption key or passphrase by trying hundreds or sometimes millions of likely possibilities, such as words in a dictionary. This technique has been used in many password crackers such as iPhone Backup Unlocker.

Part 2: How does Dictionary File to Recover Password Work?

Dictionary attack (Dictionary File to Recover Password) tries thousands of words from dictionary files (also known as a word list) as possible passwords. While using Dictionary File to Recover Password, it allows you to customize the following settings:

Password length

The program searches for the password of the specified length.

Dictionary file

Passware Kit offers 9 built-in dictionaries: Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. The program allows you to compile your own dictionary file by choosing the "Custom" option.

Pattern

Define the part of the password. If any part of the password is known, enter it in the "Pattern" field. Known parts can be separated with '*' or '?'. For example, "*p?e*" will match both "apple" and "pie". All '?' characters in the pattern are replaced by exactly one letter. I.e. pattern "never?????" will match "neveragain" and will not match "forever", "nevermore". 

The '*' character is replaced by zero or more letters, i.e., pattern "never*" will match "never", "neveragain", "nevermore", etc.

Casing

Add Casing Modifier to the Dictionary attack to change casing of any or all letters of the password.

Reverse Password

You can add Reverse Password Modifier to the Dictionary attack to check for reversed words from the dictionary.

Dictionary File to Recover Password is usually quite fast. However, the password can be recovered only in case it is present in the dictionary, so where to find a good dictionary file.

Part 3: Where to Find Quality Dictionary File?

Since Dictionary Attack largely relies on the quality of your dictionary file (word list). Below I list certain useful wordlist for your reference.

Oxford Uni Wordlists: a good set of lists including many european languages and topic specific lists.

The Argon Wordlists: Offering 50,000 words, common login/passwords and African words.

Totse Word Lists: a good French word list with and without accents, also has some other languages including names.

Openwall Wordlists Collection: a set of good lists organized by topic.

Now you must have a clear idea about what Dictionary File to Recover Password is and how it works for password recovery.