David Ketler

David Ketler is a cybersecurity consultant based in Toronto, Canada with 10+ years of experience in software development and cybersecurity. He writes about password cracking, dark web activity, and password management.

Articles written by David Ketler

Jul

29

GBA-Hashcat: Cracking SHA256 on a Nintendo Game Boy Advance 

Password cracking typically relies on powerful hardware. As our previous research has shown, the latest GPUs can test large numbers of password candidates quickly, making processing power a major factor in any cracking attempt. However, weak passwords can reduce the…
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Jul

16

[New Research] Does Argon2 Mean Your Password is Uncrackable?

Previous password cracking research published by Specops has looked at how long it takes attackers to brute force hashes protected with common hashing algorithms like MD5 and bcrypt. Much of that research focuses on how advances in hardware reduce the…
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May

22

The Reset Gap: How Storm-2949 Weaponized Native Entra ID Features

On 18 May 2026, Microsoft's Threat Intelligence team reported the results of an investigation into a threat actor they have labeled Storm-2949. Similar to the recent Handala attack against US healthcare vendor Stryker, this attack did not hinge on some…
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May

12

How Attackers Use mdxfind to Crack Passwords

Password cracking is relatively straightforward when everything is known. Given a set of hashes and the algorithm behind them, crackers can apply tools like Hashcat effectively. But Hashcat assumes that an attacker or researcher already knows what they’re dealing with,…
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May

07

IGN Twitch Hack: How Leaked Restream.io Credentials Hijacked a Major Media Channel

On 2 May 2026, gaming media giant IGN was hacked in a way that should worry every organization relying on third-party streaming services. At approximately 22:15, an unauthorized livestream went live on IGN's official Twitch channel. Viewers reported it to…
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Apr

07

Houston, We Have a Password Problem: How Global Events Drive Weak Credentials

Major global events don’t just capture attention, they influence behavior, including how users create passwords. This behavior is not new. Major sporting events like the FIFA World Cup, and seasonal celebrations such as Valentine’s Day and Christmas consistently drive the…
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Mar

30

Do AI GPUs Make Password Cracking Faster? Testing Nvidia H200 and AMD MI300X

The technology world is currently obsessed with Artificial Intelligence (AI) compute. Demand for GPUs has surged, prices for memory and semiconductor capacity have risen, and manufacturers are racing to build increasingly powerful AI accelerators such as Nvidia’s H200 and AMD’s…
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Mar

27

Stryker Cyber-Attack: What we Know so Far About the Remote Wipe Attack

On March 11, 2026, the Iranian hacktivist group Handala Hack Team claimed responsibility for a cyber-attack against the American healthcare technology company Stryker. According to public reporting, the attackers claimed to have impacted more than 200,000 systems and exfiltrated approximately…
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Mar

09

Identity Drift in AD and Entra ID: The Risk After a Password Change

Password resets are often treated as a clean break. A leaked credential is discovered, the password is changed, and risk is assumed to be contained. In hybrid Active Directory (AD) environments that assumption is dangerous. When AD operates alongside Microsoft…
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Mar

05

Are Rainbow Tables Still Relevant in 2026?

In early 2026, Mandiant released a massive 8.6TB of Net-NTLMv1 rainbow tables. If you’re not familiar with the term, rainbow tables are precomputed hash lookup tables, “cheat sheets” that allow attackers to reverse unsalted hashes far faster than brute force…
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