A Norwegian historian has asked computer crackers to help recover a missing password that would unlock a valuable archive.
The National Centre of the New Norwegian Language and Culture acquired more than 11,000 books related to Norwegian linguistics in 2000. But an accompanying digital catalogue has been unusable since no one knows the password used to lock and unlock it. The man who created the database died a few years before and left no record of the password. 鈥淪o far there are no clues,鈥� says institute director, Ottar Grepstad. 鈥淲e have already tried the simple ones such as family names and pet鈥檚 names.鈥�
To rebuild the catalogue from scratch would take one person at least a year of continuous work, Grepstad reckons. So finding the password would be very valuable to the Institute.
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Open plea
Last week Grepstad issued a plea for help on Norwegian radio from anyone skilled in the art of password cracking. 鈥淲e thought some hacker must be able to do it,鈥� he told 快猫短视频
The institute has already received 80 different offers of assistance. Some people have offered to recover the password for a price while others have offered to do the work for free. One man who knew the original archivist has even offered to lend a hand.
One of the most common methods used to recover a computer password is to use a customised computer program to try many different possibilities. Sometimes a 鈥渄ictionary鈥� of possible words may also be used.
鈥淲e鈥檙e quite optimistic,鈥� says Grepstad. 鈥淏ut we have to try out all the different solutions.鈥�