Introduction It should be noted that the recommendations given in the following material are not intended to track or intercept passwords. We just want to suggest how to restore access to your information, stored on an encrypted device or Internet service account, in case you suddenly forget your password.
As it turns out, this is not so unlikely. More than one user has experienced problems logging into Windows after returning from a two-week vacation. Not to mention unpacking ZIP archives encrypted many years ago or logging into an account you haven’t used in years.
It's not surprising that users who don't use the same password for everything (quite wisely) find themselves having to recover or reset their passwords from time to time.
Password – degree of protection, risk of hacking and a pinch of theory
The security that strong passwords provide and the associated risk of hacking are incredibly complex issues. The theory is theory, and great technological progress in recent years has very significantly influenced the likelihood of the capture of confidential data, accounts in online stores or digital identification data of users. A long and complex password provides only superficial security - in the next part of the article we will talk about why.
On the one hand, the computing power of a relatively small computer cluster (a group of interconnected computers for high performance), which has only two dozen video cards, is so great that it can “crack” an eight-character password through simple brute force within a few hours all possible combinations of characters.
Of course, one can imagine the counterargument that increasing the password length will lead to an increase in the time required to guess the password. Although this is a correct assumption, it only works in theory. Some time ago, attackers switched to other methods of cracking passwords. Even shortcut databases, known as symbolic arrays, which collect hash values to reduce password determination time, are slowly becoming a thing of the past.
The phone number is disconnected and there is no photo, real name and surname
If you have unlinked your phone number from the page (for example, by linking it to another), but there are no photographs and/or real first and last names on the page, then submitting an application for restoration will not be possible. Or, if the first application was rejected, then it will be impossible to submit a second application - after all, support has already checked the page and made sure that it will not be possible to identify the person using it.
Theoretically, returning the phone number binding back could help. You can try to write to the agents and ask them to delete the new page as created by mistake, and return the number link to the old one. Here it is not difficult to find how to create a request to return the number binding to the old page:
- What to do if you created two pages for one VKontakte number
Password – list of access codes
First of all, due to the numerous cases of mass hacking of accounts on Internet services that have occurred in recent years, there are now a huge number of widely used passwords in the public domain. These intrusions resulted in the theft of millions of customer data. Some access codes were explicitly stored and published on the Internet, while others became the subject of financial transactions.
Having such a password database, it is enough to connect it with multilingual dictionaries to carry out effective attacks. Processing several million words can be done much faster than sequentially searching through a billion possible combinations of characters.
However, this is not the end, because the list of passwords stolen by attackers provides information about the patterns used to create the password. Although simple solutions such as password, 1234... or children's names are no longer used as often as before, incorporating common words and using templates is still the order of the day.
For example, the method of replacing letters according to the pattern used in Leet speak slang is very popular. So, for example, the word kalkulator becomes the slightly more complex k4lkul470r. Some users supplement the passwords created in this way with the name of the portal or service. However, such passwords do not provide an adequate level of security because they have long been included in dictionary files circulating on the Internet.
On the other hand, there are many hardware solutions for which the security leaves much to be desired. For example, earlier versions of Android only lock the screen after five failed code attempts. You can repeat the entry after 30 seconds. If you automate this process, then guessing a four-digit sequence of numbers will take no more than 17 hours.
For a price of 35 euros you can purchase a special device - USB Rubber Ducky, which will perform this task. The protection is fixed only in the latest version of Android (Marshmallow). iOS and Windows Phone are much safer in this regard.
What to do if you don't remember your login
Contacting technical support for the Google service
It happens that a user remembers that he has a Google account, but he does not remember the login information, including the login. To restore access, first of all you need to go to gmail.com from your computer. There, in the login window, where you are asked to enter a username and password, select “Unable to log into your account?”.
A new window will open with options for recovery. You need to select “I don’t remember my username” and click “Continue”. A page will open where all the fields must be filled out.
There they indicate the backup email address, the first and last name entered during registration, rewrite the code from the picture and click “Submit”. You should enter data carefully, since, for example, the system perceives the names Olya and Olga as different. If you can remember the information, you can restore access; if not, the message “This Google account does not exist” will appear.
If none of the methods help, you can contact technical support. Based on the terms of the user agreement, Google will require personal data from the possible account owner to confirm identity. As a rule, to get a new login and password, you just need to upload a photo of yourself with an open passport in your hands.
Sometimes the verification process takes several hours, as support needs to make sure that the profile belongs to the person requesting access to it. If a technical support employee doubts this, renewal will be denied.
Password for accounts in online services
Above we presented some “behind the scenes” of passwords and methods of attacking security systems. We described methods for creating and remembering strong passwords in a separate article. The question remains of resetting passwords. This operation is often necessary in the case of social media accounts.
In principle, any service, such as an online store, portal, social network or thematic forum, provides the ability to restore access to an account by email address. The system automatically sends a message to the account owner, which contains a special link. By clicking it, the user can set a new password to access the service.
This shows how important mailbox security is. If an attacker manages to obtain the password for their victim's email, they can use the password reset feature to reach all sites registered with that email address. Therefore, it is necessary to take care of the security of your mailbox to a certain extent.
In addition to the password reset function, there are several other solutions for those who forget. These include, in particular, generating a code using the application or receiving a password via SMS message. Google and other major portals even allow you to use security methods such as two-factor authentication. There is also a system for resetting passwords through the correct answer to the “secret” question. Such protection is of little value, since attackers can obtain an answer through social engineering.
How to view passwords saved in browsers
How could I recover my password in any browser, even the one I deleted? That was the first time I encountered programs for recovering passwords from browsers. I tried many different programs, but one of the best for me was WebBrowserPassView .
The current version of the program for recovering passwords from browsers is posted on the website www.nirsoft.net - WebBrowserPassView v2.11 . The program is very simple and very necessary. Installing the program is simple, fast and enjoyable.
So how can you view passwords saved in browsers? Elementary. You can download it to recover passwords from browsers on the NirSoft developer portal. The program supports password recovery from Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera.
- Copy the password under the download link.
- Download the file.
- Let's launch.
- Enter the saved archive password.
- In the folder that opens, run WebBrowserPassView.exe and all your passwords will be revealed to you.
By the way, the program is included in the admin package - NirLauncher , which also contains a lot of useful programs.
Access to a Windows computer
Don't panic if you suddenly forget your Windows account password. You can gain access to the system without using password cracking tools. The whole operation is somewhat risky, but only takes a few tens of minutes. Even works on Windows 10.
Restoring access to Windows without an installation disk
When the login screen appears, turn off the computer by pressing the switch on the back of the computer or unplugging it from the electrical outlet.
Attention! The editors are not responsible for possible damage to the computer. Although this happens rarely.
the Start Windows normally button, select Run Startup Repair Tool (recommended) . Wait while the system sorts out the data loading. Windows will ask if you want to restore your system using the recovery feature. Click Cancel. The system will begin actions to eliminate them. After a few minutes, a Show problem details list box will appear at the bottom of the screen. Expand it and scroll to the very bottom.
Click on the link X:/windows/system32/ru-RU/erofflps.txt to open a text editor. In the editor window, select the menu File → Open and go to the /windows/system32 directory on the system partition C:
In the lower right corner there is a drop-down list with the default option Text documents (*.txt) selected. Select All files (*.*) in it. Select the Utilman.exe file, right-click it, and select Rename. Temporarily change the file name to, for example, Utilman1.exe. Similarly, replace the file name Cmd.exe with Utilman.exe. Click Cancel, then close the editor window and system recovery tools.
After you confirm the action with the Close button, the system will restart. The login screen will appear on the screen. Click then the Accessibility icon in the lower right corner. A command prompt window will appear. Type net user [name_user] * , replacing the variable [name_user] with your own name.
The system will ask you to enter and repeat a new password. Press Enter. Close the text console window. You can now log in without entering a password. Remember, however, that you must assign a new password to your account.
How to see the password under the asterisks
In the Chrome browser, I selected the password entry field with the mouse, and right-clicked to bring up the context menu, where I was interested in “viewing the element code”. When clicked, the page source code editor opened, where I can change some parameters. I'm interested in the type of information entered into the field.
Here we find the line. We change password to text , press Enter and see that the password that was under the asterisks has been revealed.
Here is a simple way to recover a forgotten password from one or another site. It happens that you cannot open a password this way, but the first method should help you. Good luck.
or
Share on networks:
Password – access for mobile devices
When you lose access to your account on your mobile device, it is not at all necessary to reset it and lose all your data. With access to your Google account, you can use the app to unlock your lock screen, just like you can with other apps.
A free application for Android smartphones is [Free] Screen Lock. A commercial application, Screen Lock Pro, is also available. Both applications are very easy to use. A little more effort is required to remove the block using Android Debug Bridge.
Users of a locked iPhone have at their disposal only the methods proposed by the manufacturer. Apart from them, there are no tricks that would help remove the screen lock. But at least you can restore your device from a previously created iTunes backup, so you don't have to set everything up again, as is the case when using Safe Mode.
How to recover ID password on iPhone using two-step verification
Another unique, fast and fairly simple way is to use two-step authentication. The method is also convenient. It is also convenient in that the user initially indicates a device that will be trusted. That is, it will serve as a rescue pill when the need arises to recover your password.
The method has a disadvantage in that the user may not initially have linked another device to his account. For example, he might not have chosen a trusted device or password for recovery. Then he will definitely not use this recovery method.
Despite the unpopularity of this method, many users think of passwords, remember them, and also make proven devices with which they work in the future. Enable two-step verification. To use the iPhone ID recovery method using two-step authentication, you need to:
- Go to the password entry page, which was discussed in other ways;
- Now you need to enter the e-mail that the user has one registered;
- We select the method by which the password will be reset. Since we are considering two-stage protection, we choose this method. We do this by pressing the corresponding button with our finger;
- We enter the recovery key that we have, as well as the trusted device. The user indicated it when adding this method to his profile. The device should also receive an SMS in the future;
- We enter the code sent to the device in a special window. This resets the password;
- The system prompts you to enter a new password. As soon as the user comes up with it, tap on the “Reset password” item.
Although this method has its big disadvantages, it is still relevant and belongs to the category of those that are perfectly preserved and protect the system. The user may not remember the answers to questions or may wait for a letter to be sent to their email address. It is enough to select a trusted device in advance, unlock the password and restore everything at the required time.
