When seeking evidence of Ophcrack usage on a Windows Server 2008, which artifact is most likely to indicate its use?

• A. A reboot event in the server logs
• B. A new user account creation
• C. A change in DNS entries
• D. A hardware inventory update

Answer: (A)

When password-cracking tools like Ophcrack are used on a Windows server, they’re typically run from a bootable environment outside the normal Windows OS to access the SAM file offline. That requires restarting the machine. So the most telling artifact is a reboot event in the server logs, which captures the system starting up into a different environment rather than staying in the regular Windows session. The other options don’t directly indicate this kind of activity: creating a new user might happen after passwords are cracked, but it’s not what shows that Ophcrack was used; DNS changes or hardware inventory updates are unrelated to running a password-cracking tool.