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What Is a Brute Force Attack?
In a Brute-force attack, the cybercriminal tries many passwords or passphrases with the help of automated software and large quantities of possible combinations or consecutive guesses to decode the passwords and gain access to a site, network, server or anything that is password protected. Brute force is a simple attack method and has a high success rate. However, it depends on the length and complexity of the password, cracking it can take anywhere from a few seconds to many years. Trying different passwords again and again for a particular user or site can take a long time, so hackers developed tools & boots to do the job faster. Almost all brute force attacks today are performed by bots and tools. Attackers have lists of real users or commonly used credentials. Bots systematically start the attack and use these lists of credentials and notify the attacker when they gain access. Mostly these lists obtained via security breaches or the dark web. The main motive of a brute force attacks is to gain access to a resource otherwise restricted to other users. Every encryption key and password-based system out there can be cracked using a brute force attack. This may be a password-protected page, an administrative account, API keys, and SSH logins or just to enumerate valid emails on a given website. Gaining access to a legitimate account can mean compromise it completely.
Most Common Types Of Brute Force Attack:-
- Simple Brute Force Attack:- This attack used on local files and there are no limits to the number of attempts you have, as other attacks are commonly more successful at scale. It uses a systematic approach to guess that doesn't trust outside logic.
- Dictionary Attacks—This attack uses a list of words and common passwords of possible strings or phrases instead of going in randomly. Dictionary attacks require a huge number of attempts, but Sometimes a good password list can improve the attacker's success rates.
- Credential Stuffing:- It uses previously known passwords and usernames pairs. Using a reused passwords is an easy way to compromise specific accounts. Hackers use credential Stuffing against multiple websites. This exposes the fact that many users have the same username and password in different systems. Hackers use stolen credentials for login attempts.
- Hybrid Brute Force Attack:- A hybrid attack includes both the dictionary attack and a regular pattern. The dictionary attack method has a list of passwords, and a brute-force attack would be applied to each possible password in that list. Instead of trying all passwords, they make modifications to words in a dictionary, like changing the case of letters or adding numbers.
Goals of a Brute Force Attack:
- Theft of personal information.
- Storing credentials to sell to third parties.
- Send phishing links or spread fake content.
- Change the visual appearance of the site or a webpage and other information in the public domain that could damage the reputation of the organization.
- Redirecting domains to unknown & unsecured sites that holding malicious content.
How to Prevent Brute Force Attacks:
- Use Strong Passwords.
- Don't use information that can be found online like the names of family members.
- Frequently change password.
- Be different for each user account.
- Avoid sharing credentials through insecure channels.
- Restrict Access to Authentication URLs.
- Limit Login Attempts to a small amount per user.
- Use CAPTCHAs- captchas are a good way of preventing bots and automated tools by giving them challenges before they even can attempt a login.
- Use Two-Factor Authentication- add an extra layer of security to your login form.
Conclusion:- This article is all about Brute Force Attack. Feel free to ask in the comment section if you have any queries.