My First “Real” Hack

I’m currently studying Cybersecurity and am set to graduate with a BAS this December. Recently, a friend reached out for help after getting locked out of his laptop. He was updating Windows Hello's facial recognition—it had been struggling with his new beard—when Windows suddenly disabled all Windows Hello logins, including his PIN. Having used facial recognition for so long, he'd forgotten his password. We're both members of my school's Cyber Club, so he asked if I could assist. Although I've reset passwords within a VM using various tools before, this was a new challenge.

I have a couple of USB tools at my disposal: a MediCat USB and a Ventoy USB with a live Kali Linux image. We first tried the MediCat USB. After accessing the BIOS and booting from MediCat, I launched the lockpick tool, aiming to change or remove the user's password. Despite trying several password-change tools, we found that the MediCat live image couldn’t detect the OS partition.

Next, we booted from my live Kali Linux image and were relieved to see the OS partition. Initially, I attempted to brute force the password but quickly realized it would be too time-consuming. That's when I discovered the chntpw command, which I used to unlock and remove the password from his user account. After rebooting into Windows, we were immediately logged into his account. He was immensely relieved, as all his homework was on that laptop and he didn't want to risk losing it. He swiftly set a new password and re-enabled his PIN.

I consider this my first "real" hack, as all my previous experiences were in controlled environments—working with intentionally vulnerable machines like Metasploitable 2 and 3, outdated unpatched virtual machines, engaging with platforms like HackTheBox or TryHackMe, or participating in CTFs. I'm excited to be acquiring practical skills that will be valuable to me and future employers. I aspire to work in Penetration Testing/Red Team roles eventually.

I wanted to share my beginner's experience here for others who are also learning Cybersecurity. submitted by /u/bucksnort2
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