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

Mar

02

Marquis Sues SonicWall: What the Lawsuit Reveals About MFA Recovery Risks

On Monday, February 23, 2026, fintech provider Marquis Software Solutions Inc. filed a lawsuit against SonicWall in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The legal action follows a 2025 cybersecurity incident where Marquis alleges that a…
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Feb

16

How Attackers use Targeted Wordlists in Password Cracking

Cyber-attacks are often framed as highly sophisticated and increasingly driven by artificial intelligence (AI). But, in practice, many successful attacks are far more basic. Weak passwords and predictable human behavior continue to provide attackers with reliable opportunities to gain unauthorized…
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Feb

13

Infostealer Logs to Identity Exposure: What Real Credential Dumps Reveal

Modern infostealers have expanded credential theft far beyond usernames and passwords. Over the past year, campaigns have increased steadily, targeting users with little distinction between corporate employees and individuals on personal devices. These infections routinely harvest credentials alongside broader session…
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Feb

11

The Romantic Passwords Cybercriminals Love to Use

Every year, the Specops breached password report delivers interesting insights into how passwords are created, and how attackers exploit those patterns. Users still rely on familiar words, names, places and cultural references when creating passwords. A surprising trend we’ve found…
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Dec

03

ALIEN TXTBASE Data Leak: How Data Recycling Impacts Risk

ALIEN TXTBASE has emerged as one of the most active distributors of infostealer data on the dark web. Specops analysts have been monitoring this actor’s activity for months, reviewing each new batch of stolen credentials as it is released. With…
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Sep

16

[New research] Cracking bcrypt: Is new-gen hardware and AI making password hacking faster?

Almost two years ago, the Specops research team analyzed how long it took to crack passwords hashed with the bcrypt algorithm. Two years is a long time in cybersecurity, so we’re revisiting the research with newer, more powerful hardware, to…
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