password encryption

charafantah · 10-06-2006, 08:14 PM

hello, sorry if am posting off forum topic, but icouldnt find any useful crypto forum(tell me if u know any)

i have a DB column that have a password, which is encoded/encrypted i dont know, the string looks like this
-127;-103;-62;-39;35;47;9;37;

the field length is 29 char
it only contains digits, semi colons and dashes
its always 8 characters(i assume that a semicolon is a new char)

what kind of encryption/encoding is that?any idea how to decrypt/decode that?
it doesnt look like any popular algorithm, not ASCII codes! what is it then

please advice

regards,

Tinkster · 10-07-2006, 01:42 AM

What program is it that you're using?

Cheers,
Tink

Wim Sturkenboom · 10-07-2006, 02:22 AM

Quote:

any idea how to decrypt/decode that?

Passwords usually can not be decrypted; this is, if implemented correctly.

Passwords are usually stored as a hash (which is a one-way encryption). To verify a password, a program will run the same hash-function on the password that a user provided and compare it to a stored value.

primo · 10-07-2006, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charafantah

i have a DB column that have a password, which is encoded/encrypted i dont know, the string looks like this
-127;-103;-62;-39;35;47;9;37;

That particular string may be just a representation, albeit an strange one (signed char comes to mind).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wim Sturkenboom

Passwords usually can not be decrypted; this is, if implemented correctly.
Passwords are usually stored as a hash (which is a one-way encryption). To verify a password, a program will run the same hash-function on the password that a user provided and compare it to a stored value.

Maybe that db entry comes from a password manager

charafantah · 10-07-2006, 06:13 AM

this data is stored in an Oracle 9i DB (maybe its an oracle builtin function??)

and the application is a JAVA web application.

yes, i understand that most encryption algorithms use a one way hash function, but it could still be brute forced, with the correct key, some luck and alot of time