Influence of Network Infrastructure on Distributed Password Cracking

Password cracking is a process used to obtain the cracking key through which we get access to encrypted data. This process normally works on the principle of the repeated try of attempts and their verification by making calculations of cryptographic algorithms. The difficulty of algorithms affects the time spent on solving of the calculations. In spite of various acceleration methods, it is often necessary to distribute the given problem among several nodes which are interconnected via the local network or the internet. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the influence of network infrastructure on the speed, the scalability, and the utilization during different attacks on cryptographical hashes. For these purposes, there was created an automatized experimental environment, which consists of distinctive topologies, scripts, and sets of testing tasks. Based on the results of the analysis, which were obtained by the usage of tools Fitcrack and Hashtopolis it was possible to observe this influence