Cracking a SHA-256 hash

[MatthewK31]

Hello all,

I am trying to crack a SHA-256 hash but I am not sure how to approach this in an efficient way. The following is known of the original non-hashed content:

- 64 characters long
- only consists 0-9 and a-z (no capital letters)
- the original content does not consist dictionary words
- the hash is not salted

I have done some reading on the subject of cracking hashes and some information I have read is conflicting. For example, one said on a public forum that SHA-256 is virtually impossible to crack while the other said that it's a rather poor method for password storage as it could be cracked easily.

Is SHA-256 a safe way to hash passwords with (if not, what are the alternatives) and how do I crack a given hash in an efficient way (assuming the given criteria above).

Thanks in advance!

[undeath]

1. how to crack? A: https://hashcat.net/wiki/
2. is SHA-256 a safe PSA? A: No.
2.b What is better? A: (pbkdf2), bcrypt, scrypt, argon2 (weak -> strong)
3. Does that matter for a password with 36^64 possible solutions? A: No.