Introduction: Top 10 Password Cracking Tools Used by Pen Testers In today’s cybersecurity landscape, password cracking tools play a vital role in ethical hacking and penetration testing. These tools help cybersecurity professionals uncover weak passwords, test encryption methods, and evaluate system defenses before real attackers strike. Understanding how they work allows organizations to strengthen password policies, enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA), and detect brute-force attempts effectively. Ethical hackers use password-cracking tools responsibly — always with permission — to identify vulnerabilities and improve overall network security. Below are the Top 10 Password Cracking Tools Used by Pen Testers , each explained with its purpose, use case, and defense strategy. 1. Hash cat 2. John the Ripper (and Jumbo) 3. Hydra (THC-Hydra) 4. Medusa 5. Aircrack-ng 6. Cain & Abel (historical, Windows) 7. Ophcrack 8. RainbowCrack 9. Crunch 10. Hydra/Metasploit auxiliary modules ...