Pattern Locks Are Unsafe: Secure Your Honor Magic 5 Pro Phone Now with These Tips

Pattern locks have been available for about as long as people can remember, and they have been hugely popular with people thanks to how easy it is to simply swipe your screen and unlock your smartphone, as against, say, keying in the 4-digit PIN/ 6-digit PIN. However, pattern locks are easy to crack, and today, we bring you all you want to know about pattern locks and how to create a hard pattern lock. Further to this, we also tell you how to move beyond pattern locks and what to do in case you forgot the hard pattern lock you just set and are unable to unlock your smartphone.

Part 1: What You Need to Know About Pattern Locks

Pattern lock is an Android-only feature that makes it easy for users to have a modicum of security on their smartphones. Most users do not prefer using and remembering a PIN to unlock the smartphone. Creating a pattern makes it easier, somehow.

There is a 9-point grid on which you swipe your finger from point to point, in any direction, and when you take your finger off, that pattern you swiped becomes the key to unlock your smartphone.

Pattern locks were exceedingly common only a few years ago, and they are not recommended for use any longer due to concerns (mentioned later in the article).

1.1: Popularity and Usage

Old habits die hard, or so they say, right? That’s because it is true. We are creatures of habit, and pattern locks have been around for a long, long time. We are accustomed to pattern locks. So, even with even easier technologies such as fingerprint recognition and face recognition, we tend to gravitate towards the familiar old pattern lock.

The only thing is, there is a reason why pattern locks are no longer the preferred option to use for unlocking your smartphones. As it happens, that reason is security, and it can be very easy for humans to take a swipe (pardon the pun) at your pattern lock. And guess what? The research conducted suggests that they would get it right with an unsettling accuracy.

1.2: Advantages and Drawbacks

With on-the-go lifestyles, our smartphones have become indispensable and contain some of the most sensitive aspects of our lives – IDs, credit and debit cards in digital wallets, photo and video memories, business documents – you name it, the smartphones have it, on the go. This has opened our lives up to the public at large, and if someone steals our smartphone or, best case, finds it, the only barrier preventing them from being privy to all that wealth of our sensitive information is that screen lock – the pattern lock that we set on our smartphones. That’s it – the single pattern lock stands between malicious actors and our data. You might be beginning to realize just how crazy this is.

Advantages of Pattern Locks

There are two advantages to using pattern locks. One, they are better than nothing. Two, they are easy to use. And that’s about it. There is no third advantage to pattern locks. We might think we set a hard pattern lock that nobody could guess, but, as research proves, we might be thinking too low of human prowess.

Disadvantages of Pattern Locks

Security, or rather, the lack of it, is the lone disadvantage of using a pattern lock. What good is a pattern lock that can be easily deciphered? Sure, they are easy to use, and they are better than not having anything, but would you really want to protect your life’s data with something that could be, as researchers found out, breached in under 5 attempts? We don’t think you do!

The research found that 64% of test subjects who were shown videos of people unlocking their phones could correctly guess a 6-point pattern lock, that too after viewing the video only once! That number shot up to 80% if they were allowed to see the video again. That is simply astounding and a nightmare for security. When it comes to PINs, only 11% could guess a 6-digit PIN after viewing the unlocking video once, and that number shot up to 27% when they could see the video two times.

Part 2: How To Create a Hard Pattern Lock (Including Remembering Complex Patterns)

Now, if you must continue using a pattern lock, let’s help you know how to create a hard pattern lock that would not be as easy to decipher as easy pattern locks. For that, you should know how people use pattern locks, the kind of pattern locks they create, and the ones that are the most commonly used pattern locks. That way, you can avoid those fallacies and create a hard pattern lock for your smartphone.

2.1: The Pattern Locks People Use Most Commonly

Marte Loge, an M.Sc. Computer Science student, gave a presentation on pattern locks at DEFCON 23 and made a bold claim. She said, “Tell me who you are, and I will tell you your lock pattern.”

She presented the following statistics to support her claim:

• - In her research, she found that 77% of people started with one of the 4 corners when creating a pattern lock.
• - 44% of people started with the top-left dot and 15% with the top-right, while the bottom-left was preferred by 14% of her test subjects.
• - People set 5-point pattern locks on average, and most users were content with a 4-point pattern.

These are some of the most common pattern locks people create:

• - patterns in the shapes of alphabets,
• - patterns in the shapes of numerals,
• - patterns in any other simple shape, such as square, triangle, star, etc.

To understand how this is a security nightmare, the possible combinations for a 4-point pattern are a measly 1624, whereas by adding just 1 more point to the pattern and creating a 5-point pattern, the number of possible combinations becomes 7152, an increase of 5528 combinations. In stark contrast, creating a 9-point pattern would give you over 140,000 possible combinations!

2.2: How to Create a Hard Pattern Lock

Knowing what most people do when creating a pattern lock, it becomes easy to avoid those mistakes and instead create a hard pattern lock for oneself.

• - Do not start creating a pattern lock from any of the 4 corners of the grid.
• - Never use your first initial as your pattern lock.
• - Never use the shape of a numeral as your pattern lock.
• - Use all 9 points on the grid to create your pattern lock, and contrary to popular belief, you can go over the connecting lines several times, creating a hard pattern lock that would not be as easy for people to decipher!

Part 3: Going Beyond Pattern Locks

You might think that now that you have set a hard pattern lock, you are good to go. Hardly. Technology has evolved, so have methods to break into your device.

Step 1: Set a 6-digit PIN

The minimum you should do today is set a 6-digit PIN to unlock your phone. Consider this a necessary investment into the safety of your data residing on your smartphone.

Step 2: Use Fingerprint Recognition (or Face Recognition on Apple Devices)

All modern smartphones released over the last decade have come with fingerprint recognition. Using fingerprint recognition requires you to set a 6-digit PIN and then set a fingerprint to unlock your device. You can set additional fingerprints, too.

This way, your device is the most secure it can be today. In case your fingerprint is not recognized for any reason, the phone falls back on the 6-digit PIN that you can enter and unlock your phone.

While face recognition is available on both Android and Apple devices, it is truly secure only on Apple devices. This is why Apple iPhones released after the iPhone X in 2017 have come only with Face ID. They fall back on a minimum 6-digit PIN (called Passcode in Apple world) to unlock in case the face does not get recognized in the first attempt.

Part 4: How To Unlock Phone If Hard Pattern Lock Forgotten

Just in case you set a hard pattern lock and promptly forgot that abstruse pattern you just set, we have a tool for you to quickly unlock your phone in case of a forgotten hard pattern lock: Wondershare Dr.Fone - Screen Unlock.

Dr.Fone - Screen Unlock (Android)

Remove the Hard Pattern Lock on Your Honor Magic 5 Pro If You Forgot!

• Remove all Android screen locks (PIN/pattern/fingerprints/face ID) in minutes.
• Bypass the FRP lock of Samsung without a PIN or Google account.
• Everyone can handle the lock screen without any tech knowledge.
• Provide specific removal solutions to promise good success rate.

4,008,671 people have downloaded it

Download the latest version of Dr.Fone from the Wondershare website and launch the app.

Step 1: Click Android under Toolbox > Screen Unlock.

Step 2: Click Unlock Android Screen.

Step 3: Select your device manufacturer.

Step 4: Prepare your device to unlock the screen.

When the greyed Next button becomes available, click it and wait for your device to be unlocked.

All data on the Honor Magic 5 Pro device is wiped under this method. Select Samsung phones may be unlocked without data loss. Check this list for devices that may be unlocked without data loss.

Closing Words

Whether it is an easy pattern lock or a hard pattern lock, the fact is that pattern locks are antiquated and a security nightmare. A minimum 6-digit PIN must be used, and using fingerprint recognition is the preferred way to go for Android devices. Using fingerprint recognition will require that users create a 6-digit PIN. On Apple devices launched after 2017, there is Face ID, Apple’s marketing term for face recognition. If you did indeed still set a hard pattern lock, only to promptly forget it, use Wondershare Dr.Fone – Screen Unlock (Android) to seamlessly unlock your phone right now.

Top 10 Password Cracking Tools For Honor Magic 5 Pro

What is password cracking?

Password cracking process involves recovering a password from storage locations or from data, transmitted by a computer system on network. Password cracking term refers to group of techniques used to get password from a data system.

Purpose and reason of password cracking includes gaining an unauthorized access to a computer system or it can be recovery of forgotten password. There might be another reason of using password cracking technique that is for testing password strength so hacker could not hack into system.

Password cracking is normally performed thought repetitive process in which computer applies different combinations of password till the exact match.

Brute Force Password Cracking:

Term brute force password cracking may also be referred as brute force attack. Brute force password cracking is respective process of guessing password, in this process software or tool creates a large number of password combinations. Basically it’s a trail-and-error technique used by software to obtain password information from system.

A brute force attack are normally used by hackers when there is no chance of taking advantage of encrypted system weakness or by security analysis experts to test an organization’s network security .This method of password cracking is very fast for short length passwords but for long length passwords dictionary attack technique is normally used.

Time taken by brute force password cracking software to crack password is normally depend upon speed of system and internet connection.

GPU Password Cracking:

GPU is graphics processing unit, sometimes also called visual processing unit. Before talking about GPU password cracking we must have some understanding about hashes . When user enter password the password information stored in form of computer hashes using the one-way hashing algorithm.

In this password cracking technique using GPU software take a password guess and look through hashing algorithm and compare it or match it with the existing hashes till the exact match.

GPU can perform mathematical functions in parallel as GPU have hundreds of core that gives massive advantage in cracking password. GPU is much faster than CPU so that’s the reason of using GPU instead of CPU.

CUDA Password Cracking:

CUDA Compute Unified Device Architecture is a model for programming and a platform that perform computations in parallel, created by NVIDIA for graphic processing.

CUDA Password cracking includes cracking passwords using Graphics card which have GPU chip, GPU can perform mathematical functions in parallel so the speed of cracking password is faster than CPU.GPU have many 32bit chips on it that perform this operation very quickly.

We can easily access CUDA through libraries, directives and with the help of different programming languages that includes C, C++ and FORTRAN.

Password Cracking Tools

Given below is the list of Top10 Password cracking tools.

1. Cain and Abel : Top password cracking tool for Windows

Cain & Abel is one of the top cracking tool for password cracking and password recovery for Windows OS.

Cain & Abel can use techniques of Dictionary Attack, Brute-Force and Cryptanalysis attacks to crack encrypted passwords. So it only uses the weakness of system to crack password. GUI Interface of software is very simple and easy to use. But have availability limitation, tool only available for window based systems .Cain & Abel tool have many good features some of the features of tool are discussed below:

Features of Cain & Abel:

• Used for WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) cracking
• Have ability to record conversation over IP
• Cab be used as Network Password Sniffer
• Ability to resolve addresses IP to MAC.
• Can crack verity of hashes including LM and NT hashes, IOS and PIX hashes, RADIUS hashes, RDP passwords, and lots more than that.

Site for Download:

http://www.oxid.it

2. John the Ripper : Multi-platform, Powerful, Flexible password cracking tool

John the Ripper is a free multi or cross platform password cracking software. Its called multi platform as it combines different password cracking features into one package.

It’s primarily used to crack weak UNIX passwords but also available for Linux, Mac, and Windows. We can run this software against different password encryptions including many password hashes normally found in different UNIX versions. These hashes are DES, LM hash of Windows NT/2000/XP/2003, MD5, and AFS.

Features of John the Ripper

• Supportive with Brute force password cracking and dictionary attacks
• Multi platform
• Available free for use
• Pro version is also available with additional features

Site for Download:

http://www.openwall.com

3. Aircrack : Fast and effective WEP/WPA cracking tool

Aircrack is a combination different tools used for Wifi, WEP and WPA passwords cracking. With the help of these tools you can crack WEP/WPA passwords easily and effectively

Brute force, FMS attack, and dictionary attacks techniques can be used to crack WEP/WPA passwords. Basically it collects and analyzes encrypted packets then using its different tool crack password out of the packets. Although aircrack is available for Windows but there are different issues with this software if we use this in Windows environment, so it’s best when we use it in Linux environment.

Features of Aircrack

• Supportive with both Brute force and dictionary attacks cracking techniques
• Available for Windows and Linux
• Available in live CD

Site for Download:

http://www.aircrack-ng.org/

4. THC Hydra : Multiple services supportive, Network authentication cracker

THC Hydra is a supper fast network password cracking tool. It uses network to crack remote systems passwords.

It can be used to crack passwords of different protocols including HTTPS, HTTP, FTP, SMTP, Cisco, CVS, SQL, SMTP etc. It will give you option that you may supply a dictionary file that contains list of possible passwords. It’s best when we use it in Linux environment.

Features of THC Hydra

• Fast cracking speed
• Available for Windows, Linux ,Solaris and OS X
• New modules can be added easily to enhance features
• Supportive with Brute force and dictionary attacks

Site for Download:

https://www.thc.org/thc-hydra/

5. RainbowCrack : New Innovation in Password Hash Cracker

RainbowCrack software uses rainbow tables to crack hashes, in other words we can say it uses process of a large-scale time-memory trade for effective and fast password cracking.

Large-scale-time-memory-trade-off is a process of computing all hashes and plain text using a selected hash algorithm. After calculations, obtained results are stored in the tables called rainbow table. Process of creating rainbow tables is very time consuming but when its done software works very fast.

Password cracking using rainbow table is faster than the normal brute force attack method. It’s available for Linux and Windows operating system.

Features of Rainbow Crack

• Support verity of Rainbow tables
• Runs on Windows (XP/Vista/7/8) and Linux operating systems (x86 and x86_64)
• Simple in use

Site for Download:

http://project-rainbowcrack.com/

6. OphCrack : Tool for Windows password cracking

OphCrack used to crack Windows user passwords with the help of rainbow tables that are available in a bootable CD.

Ophcrack is completely free to download, Windows based password cracker that uses rainbow tables to crack Windows user passwords. It normally cracks LM and NTLM hashes. Software has simple GUI and can runs on different platforms.

Features of OphCrack

• Available for Windows but also available for Linux, Mac, Unix, and OS X
• Uses for LM hashes of Windows and NTLM hashes of Windows vista.
• Rainbow tables available free and easily for Windows
• To simplify the process of cracking Live CD is available

Site for Download:

http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

7. Brutus : A brute force attack cracker for remote systems

Brutus is the fastest, most flexible, and most popular software used to crack remote system passwords. It guess password through applying different permutations or by using a dictionary.

It can be used for different network protocols including HTTP, FTP, IMAP, NNTP and other types such as SMB, Telnet etc. It also gives you facility of creating your own authentication type. It also includes extra options of load and resume, so process can be paused when required and you can resume process when you want.

It is only available for windows operation systems. Tool has a limitation that it has not been updated since 2000.

Features of Brutus

• Available for Windows
• Can be used with different network protocols
• Tool have many good extra features
• Support SOCK proxy for all types of authentications
• Capability of error handling and recovery
• Authentication engine is multi stage

Site for Download:

http://www.hoobie.net/brutus/

8. L0phtCrack : Smart tool for Windows password recovery

Just like OphCrack tool L0phtCrack is also a Windows passwords recovery tool uses hashes to crack passwords, with extra features of Brute force and dictionary attacks .

It normally gains access to these hashes from directories, network servers, or domain controllers. It is capable of doing hash extraction from 32 & 64 bit Windows systems, multiprocessor algorithms, scheduling, and can also perform decoding and monitoring networks. Yet it is still the easiest to use password auditing and recovery software available.

Features of L0phtCrack

• Available for Windows XP, NT, 2000, Server 2003,and Server 2008
• Can work in both 32- and 64-bit environments
• Extra feature of schedule routine auditing on daily, weekly, monthly bases
• After run it provide complete Audit Summary in report page

Site for Download:

www.l0phtcrack.com/

9. Pwdump : Password recovery tool for Windows

Pwdump is actually different Windows programs that are used to provide LM and NTML hashes of system user accounts.

Pwdump password cracker is capable of extracting LM, NTLM and LanMan hashes from the target in Windows, in case if Syskey is disabled, software has the ability to extract in this condition.

Software is update with extra feature of password histories display if history is available. Extracted data will be available in form that is compatible with L0phtcrack.

Recently software is updated to new version called Fgdump as Pwdump not work fine when any antivirus program is running.

Features of Pwdump

• Available for Windows XP, 2000
• Powerful extra feature are available in new version of Pwdump
• Ability to run multithreaded
• It can perform cachedump (Crashed credentials dump) and pstgdump (Protected storage dump)

Site for Download:

http://www.darknet.org.uk/

10. Medusa : Speedy network password cracking tool

Medusa is remote systems password cracking tool just like THC Hydra but its stability, and fast login ability prefer him over THC Hydra.

It is speedy brute force, parallel and modular tool. Software can perform Brute force attack against multiple users, hosts, and passwords. It supports many protocols including AFP, HTTP, CVS, IMAP, FTP, SSH, SQL, POP3, Telnet and VNC etc.

Medusa is pthread-based tool, this feature prevent unnecessarily duplicate of information. All modules available as an independent .mod file, so no modification is required to extend the list that supports services for brute forcing attack.

Features of Medusa

• Available for Windows, SunOS, BSD, and Mac OS X
• Capable of performing Thread based parallel testing
• Good feature of Flexible user input
• Due to parallel processing speed of cracking is very fast

Site for Download:

http://www.darknet.org.uk/

How to Lock Apps on Honor Magic 5 Pro to Protect Your Individual Information

If you are not a fan of having to go through the process of getting through a pattern or password every time you want to use your phone, the good news is that you don’t have to. There are really just a few Apps on your Android device that have sensitive information you don’t want others getting access to. It would really be great if you could lock those apps individually as opposed to locking the Honor Magic 5 Pro device as a whole.

Well, in light of helping you out, this article will address just how you can lock Apps on your device and not have to type in a code every time you want to use the Honor Magic 5 Pro device.

Part 1. Why you need to Lock Apps on Android?

Before we get down to the business of locking some of your Apps, let’s look at some of the reasons why you would want to lock certain apps.

• You may simply want better access on your device. Locking certain apps will allow you to easily access the Honor Magic 5 Pro device and use it without having to remember passwords and patterns.
• If you are a person who is not good at remembering passwords or patterns, simply locking certain apps will help you not get locked out of your entire device which can cause a lot of problems.
• If your device is used by more than one person, locking certain apps will keep the other users out of information you would rather they didn’t access.
• If you have children, you can eliminate the many accidental in-app purchases by locking the apps your children shouldn’t be on.
• Locking apps is also a good way to keep children from content they shouldn’t be accessing.

Part 2. How to Lock Apps in Android

There is always a good reason to Lock Apps on your device and we have two easy and effective methods you can use to do this. Choose the one that you are most comfortable with.

Method One: Using Smart App Protector

Smart App Protector is a freeware that allows you to lock specified applications.

Step 1: Download and Install Smart App Protector from the Google Play Store and Launch it. You may be required to install a helper application for Smart App Protector. This helper will ensure that the many App services running on your device will not be killed by third party apps.

Step 2: The default password 7777 but you can change this in the Password & Pattern Settings.

Step 3: The next step is to add apps to the Smart App Protector. Open the Running Tab on Smart Protector and tap on the “Add” button.

Step 3: Next, select the apps you would like to protect from the pop up list. Tap on the “Add” button once you have chosen your Apps.

Step 4: Now close the app and the Apps chosen will now be password protected.

Method 2: Using Hexlock

Step 1: Download Hexlock from the Google Play Store. Once it is installed, open it. You will be required to enter a pattern or PIN. This is the lock code that you will use every time you open the app.

Step 2: Once the PIN or Password is set, you are now ready to lock apps. You can create multiple lists of Apps to be locked ba_x_sed on your different needs. As an example, we have chosen the Work panel. Tap on “Start Locking Apps” to start.

Step 3: You will see a list of Apps to choose from.  Choose the Apps you wish to lock and then Tap the down arrow in the upper left when you are done.

You can then Swipe to the left to move to other lists such as “Home” and proceed to lock apps in this group as well.

Part 3. 6 Private Apps that you should lock on your Android

There are certain apps that may require to be locked more than others. Of course the choice of which apps you should lock will depend on your own uses and preferences. The following are some of the apps you would like to lock for one reason or another.

1. The Messaging App

This is the application that allows you to send and receive messages. You may want to lock this app if you use your device to send messages of a sensitive nature that you would rather keep private. You may also want to lock this app if your device is used by more than one person and you don’t want other users reading your messages.

2. Email App

Most people use individual email applications such as Yahoo Mail App or Gmail. This is another critical one if you are going to protect your work emails. You may want to lock the email app if your work emails are sensitive in nature and contain information that is not for all individuals.

3. Google Play Services

This is the application that allows you to download and install applications to your device. You may want to lock this one if you are trying to prevent other users from downloading and installing further apps to your device. This is especially valuable if your device is utilized by children.

4. Gallery App

The Gallery app displays all the images on your device. The main reason you may want to lock the Gallery app may be because you have sensitive images that are not suitable for all viewers. Again this is ideal if children make use of your device and you have images that you would rather they didn’t see.

5. Music Pla_x_yer App

This is the Application that you use to play the music on your device. You may want to lock it if you don’t want anyone else making changes to your saved audio files and playlists or don’t want someone listening to your audio files.

6. File Manager App

This is the App that displays all of the files that are saved on your device. It is the ultimate app to lock if you have sensitive information on your device that you would rather not share. Locking this app will ensure that all of the files on your device will remain safe from prying eyes.

Having the ability to lock your Apps is an easy way to keep information out of the limelight. It also allows you to take full control of your device. Try it, it might just be freeing as opposed to locking your entire device.

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