Step 1: Guess BIOS passwords yourself

If you know who is/was the user or previous owner of the computer, you should try some common passwords such as their user's name, company name and so on to see if you can get it. Unless you're really into computer hardware hacking and can create a keyboard simulator to send your passwords brute-force style at wire speed, you'll have to enter each password manually. It's slow, but it can work, especially given the fact that most passwords are trivial.

There are a couple of other published tricks for getting around BIOS passwords on Toshiba and IBM ...

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Aptiva computers. If you have a Toshiba system, hold down the left shift key during boot. If you have an IBM Aptiva, the trick is to press both mouse buttons in quick succession during boot. You can also hold down one ore more keys on your keyboard during boot to try and overload your keyboard buffer. Odds are you'll just end up getting a lot of angry beeps back from your computer, but it's worth a try. You can also take a crack at repeatedly hitting the F1, F2, F10, F11, F12 or ESC key as well.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kevin Beaver, CISSP, is an independent information security consultant, author and speaker with Atlanta-based Principle Logic LLC. He has more than 18 years of experience in IT and specializes in performing information security assessments. Beaver has written five books including Hacking For Dummies (Wiley), Hacking Wireless Networks For Dummies, (Wiley) and The Practical Guide to HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance (Auerbach). He can be reached at kbeaver@principlelogic.com.
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