In cloud-based password cracking, what primarily determines the cost and computational power of a given instance?

• A. The provider (and instance type)
• B. Password length
• C. Target system
• D. Time of day

Answer: (A)

In cloud-based password cracking, the main factor that sets both how powerful your cracking rig is and how much it costs is the hardware you rent from the provider—the specific instance type and the provider’s pricing. The instance type determines how many GPUs/CPUs, how much RAM, and the network bandwidth you get, which directly translates to hashes per second and overall throughput. The price per hour is tied to that hardware configuration, so picking a more powerful instance increases both performance and cost.

Longer or more complex passwords change how hard the cracking process must work (they require more guesses and more time), but they don’t change the machine’s capacity or the per-hour cost of the rented instance. The target system doesn’t affect the cost of running the instance; it only influences the likelihood of success and the network interactions. Time of day can matter only in pricing models that vary with demand (like spot instances), but the core determinant of cost and power remains the chosen provider and instance type.