Your Password Is… wait for it… NOT Always Encrypted

**Executive Summary:** This blog post provides a practical overview of credential-harvesting techniques used during penetration tests, demonstrating tools (Mimikatz, LaZagne, WCE), methods (memory/lsass dumps, Meterpreter migration, in-memory PowerShell), and legacy weaknesses (Group Policy Preferences) that can expose plaintext passwords or hashes, and emphasizes simple mitigations such as enabling two-factor authentication.