How to install John the Ripper in Ubuntu

John the Ripper is a free program for breaking passwords.  It was created for the Unix operating system, but it now runs on fifteen different platforms (eleven of which are architecture-specific versions of Unix, DOS, Win32, BeOS, and OpenVMS). Because it incorporates a variety of password crackers into one package, auto-detects password hash types, and offers a customizable cracker, it is one of the most widely used password testing and breaking tools. It supports a variety of encrypted password forms, including numerous crypt password hash types (based on DES, MD5, or Blowfish), Kerberos AFS, and the Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 LM hash. Additional modules have added support for MD4-based password hashes as well as passwords saved in LDAP, MySQL, and other databases. 

John the Ripper is a rapid password breaker that works on a variety of Unix, Windows, DOS, BeOS, and OpenVMS systems. Its main goal is to identify weak Unix passwords. Apart from multiple crypts (3) password hash types typically found on various Unix systems, Windows LM hashes, as well as a variety of additional hashes and ciphers, are supported out of the box. 

Installing John the Ripper in Ubuntu

We can download the John the Ripper package in 2 ways:

• Using APT Package Manager
• Using Snap Utility

Let’s go through both the installation methods one by one.

Method 1: Using APT Package Manager

Step 1: Launch your system terminal and enter the following command to change your working directory to /opt. This should work for most Linux systems.  John The Ripper can be set up in a variety of ways. We may use apt-get or snap to install it, to name a few. Run the following commands from the terminal.

sudo apt-get install john -y

Step 2: This will start the installation procedure. When it’s done, type ‘john’ into the terminal.

john

Method 2: Using Snap Utility

Step 1: Execute the below command in the terminal to install the snapd on the system.

sudo apt install snapd

Step 2: Now, execute the below command to install the John the Ripper tool using snap.

sudo snap install john-the-rip

Step 3: Now, type the following command and press enter to ‘launch John-the-ripper tool’.

john