Why does RockYou 2024.txt look like a binary file when you open it up? Find out here.
Introduction
You’ve most likely already heard of the newest edition of RockYou called RockYou 2024.txt. However, contrary to a popular belief that the file would be full of plain-text strings that are billions of passwords from the most recent data breaches, as soon as people opened the RockYou 2024.txt file, they’ve seen… a bunch of text that looks like binary strings.
Why Does the RockYou 2024.txt File Look Like a Binary File?
In fact, this impression was the first impression not only for those opening the RockYou 2024.txt file for the first time – even Russian-speaking Telegram channels said that “they had to filter the file a little” and only then share it with the followers of the channel:
According to the operators of this Telegram channel, they have downloaded the RockYou 2024.txt file and filtered it, then zipped it together so the file became 45GB in size from the initial 155GB. The operators further state that „if you open the RockYou 2024.txt file with less, you will think that it looks like a binary file. The reason why is that for some sort of a reason, the file has a lot of trash.“ In this case, „trash“ most likely refers to binary strings that don‘t look like passwords at all. The most likely reason why is because the RockYou 2024.txt file, as the BreachDirectory blog has noted before, contains a lot of badly processed, truncated hashes, email addresses, scraped and Unicode-based text, IP addresses, and numeric values.
The operators of the Telegram channels further share that „once the file has been cleared, we have a file of 144GB in size. And even in it, there‘s a lot of useless passwords.“ Now, it‘s unclear what „useless passwords“ mean in this case, but what the operators are trying to say is that once they got rid of the „trash“ (scraped and Unicode-based text, hashes, etc.) in the file, they are still grappling with quite a lot of passwords that may not be used by people in the first place. That‘s why the file was filtered even further and the operators of the Telegram channel left only passwords without spaces that consist of 8 to 40 characters. A file with „useful“ passwords for a wordlist „weighs“ 25GB. Given the initial file was 155GB in size, that‘s a 130GB reduction. The operators of the Telegram channel further share that the initial file that contained 9,948,575,739 passwords was reduced to 1,710,971,198 passwords instead. That‘s8,237,604,541 useless passwords that have been reduced to rubble. In other words, approximately 82.80% of the passwords of the so-called elite RockYou 2024.txt list were useless. That explains both the hype – „there are so many passwords!!!“ – and the gloom as well.
Is the RockYou 2024.txt Wordlist Useless?
So, is the RockYou 2024.txt password list useless? Both yes and no. While it does contain a lot of useless strings, the „cleaned“ wordlist contains over 1.7 billion useful passwords, and that RockYou 2024.txt wordlist can be used by security analysts to conduct password strength analysis. With that being said, nefarious parties would also find a way to use the wordlist in combination with usernames or email addresses, and that‘s why services and applications should come with brute-force security precautions. Aside from that, use strong passwords and avoid re-using them (preferably generate passwords with a password manager), and you should be good to go.
Wordlists and Data Breach Search Engines
Wordlists can be very useful for both security analysts and cyber crooks because they „open half the door“ for identity theft: you just have to combine them with email addresses or usernames, and you can breach a system. Easy, right? Not if people change passwords beforehand and you use a trustworthy framework or CMS (often those come with pre-installed brute-force attack prevention measures.)
Data breach search engines like BreachDirectory can help you protect yourself from identity theft, credential stuffing, and account takeover (ATO) attacks that can be the result of attackers using the data in the RockYou 2024.txt wordlist by allowing you to search yourself through hundreds of publicly leaked data breaches. The BreachDirectory API appliance, on the other hand, will help those working with data breaches on a deeper level and will help individuals or companies integrate the data inside the BreachDirectory search engine into their own systems.
The BreachDirectory data breach search engine has protected tens of millions of people and continues to do so to this day. The best part? The BreachDirectory.com data breach search engine is free of charge.
In case you’re curious about how BreachDirectory and the BreachDirectory API may help your use case or have any further questions, don’t hesitate to schedule a meeting with the founder today, and until next time.
Summary
The reason the RockYou 2024.txt file initially looks like a binary file is because it‘s comprised of a lot of useless data – allegedly, the entire RockYou 2024.txt list contains 9,948,575,739 words including binary strings, various hashes, scraped and Unicode-based text, and other useless information.
Once the RockYou 2024.txt file is cleaned, it‘s obvious that most of the data in it is useless – from all of the records, only 1,710,971,198 records are useful for security analysts.
With that being said, data breach search engines are useful for security analysts, software engineers, database administrators, project managers, and everyone in between – make use of data breach search engines like BreachDirectory or use the BreachDirectory API today and until next time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Does RockYou 2024.txt Look Like a Binary File?
The RockYou 2024.txt file might initially look like a binary file due to a lot of useless strings (hashes, Unicode text, etc.) in the wordlist.
Who is the RockYou 2024 Wordlist Useful For?
Everyone – the RockYou 2024.txt wordlist is useful for everyone in the cyberspace. Some may use the wordlist less often than others (i.e. it‘s likely that project managers and people related to them won‘t have a use case for the wordlist), but nonetheless, everyone benefits from reading an analysis of what the RockYou 2024 wordlist contains. Stay tuned to the BreachDirectory blog to see one.
Why Should I Use the BreachDirectory API or Data Breach Search Engine?
Consider using the BreachDirectory data breach search engine to protect yourself from ATO attacks, and the BreachDirectory API if your use case necessitates internal access to data breach data to protect your users, customers, or everyone in between.