Which password-guessing tool is described as operating primarily via the command line across many network services?

• A. John the Ripper
• B. Hashcat
• C. Xhydra
• D. THC-Hydra

Answer: (D)

The key idea is a password-guessing tool that runs from the command line and targets many network services. THC-Hydra is built for exactly that: it’s a command-line tool designed to brute-force or perform dictionary attacks against a wide range of network protocols (SSH, FTP, Telnet, HTTP/HTTPS, SMB, SMTP, and more). Its strength lies in its ability to quickly try multiple user/password combinations across various services from a single interface, often with parallel connections to speed up testing.

John the Ripper focuses on offline cracking of local password hashes, not remote network services. Hashcat is also geared toward offline hash cracking and is often used with GPUs for speed. Xhydra is a graphical front-end to Hydra, so while it can perform similar checks, it’s not primarily used via the command line.