por Do you know what a brute force attack is? If a cybercriminal wants crack a password, there are different techniques you can use. The right combination of these maneuvers leaves users facing several cybersecurity risks, but there are habits and tools that will help protect you from the main threats.
In this post, we will talk about one of the techniques that is most used in the hacking for him password theft. Next, we will explain what is a brute force attack.
What is a brute force attack?
A brute force attack is a technique used to guess a user’s password. For this, a automated testing of all combinations of letters and numbers or special characters that fit within an indicated field. In most cases, the attacker uses dictionaries with stolen or leaked keys, since sometimes users repeat passwords or use insecure combinations, such as «1234», «1111» or «0000».
This type of attack is one of the most used for theft of usernames and passwords.
A brute force attack could take even millions of years to work if the password is strong enough. Only a username and password that are too weak are susceptible to a successful brute force attack. If a user’s password is extremely easyas «123456789«, «password«, «hello«, «QWERTY«, «asdfgh«, «BadBunny» and similar values, then it is impossible to protect.
There is Ways to defend against these attacks. The first step is to have a secure password. Although there is no such thing as 100% protection in cybersecurity, we have some tools and strategies that make it difficult to steal a password.
Use of strong passwords
To better understand what brute force is in cybersecurity and how it works, we will talk about the best method to protect yourself from this technique.
The best way to avoid a brute force cyber attack is to set strong passwords for the accounts you use, as these increase the processing time required for the cyber attack. A value like «hello1234» can be found in a matter of minutes. However, each character in the password exponentially increases the time needed to execute the cyberattack. That’s why, If you choose a long password that randomly combines letters and special characters, it will be impossible to guess.
In fact, it is also ideal to use a single password for each account you use. Therefore, managing your passwords can become a complicated task, since writing them on post-its or saving them in a file on your computer are terrible ideas in terms of security. To do this, the best solution is to use a password manager that also fulfills the task of assigning secure passwords to our accounts.
However, If you want to continue setting your own passwords, remember that they must be long and combine special characters, numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters. Even so, it is advisable to use a password manager as a method of storing passwords.
Dictionary attacks
We have already seen what brute force is in cybersecurity and how to establish strong passwords so as not to be victims of an attack with this technique. Now, we will see the method most used by attackers and security researchers to optimize the performance of a brute force password hack.
Dictionaries are text files that contain the words most used as passwords by users. The use of these dictionaries can be included in brute force attacks to perform tests with default and non-random values. Thus, the possibility of finding weak or common passwords increases.
Passwords of intermediate strength can be guessed by sufficiently complex dictionary attacks. exist software dictionary generators that can use personal data about the user who owns the account to increase the possibility of finding the password. This data may be related to your date of birth, the name of your pet, etc.
How to protect yourself from a brute force attack?
We have already seen what a brute force attack is and how a hacker malicious could use it to his advantage. Now, we will explain some ways to protect yourself from these types of attacks and maintain a secure password.
Have a complex password
He length of a password can severely hamper a brute force attack. Just one more digit increases exponentially the amount of time and processing power required to carry out the attack. However, it is necessary to keep in mind that governments may have technologies to carry out these attacks in a matter of minutes. Time and capacity that requires a brute force attack, based on the number of characters in the password, can be found with the Last Bit calculator.
Password length is a factor that is ultimately very useful in hindering a brute force attack, but it will not keep you safe from other types of cyberattacks. Furthermore, it is necessary to clarify that a strong password should not be changed periodically. This custom has become obsolete, although it is still valid in some applications.
Maximum number of attempts
Have a maximum number of attempts It is another of the security measures that a software to protect a user’s credential stuffing from a brute force attack. However, it is also not a security solution that works on its own, since the cyber attacker can bypass it through a VPN or one botnet.
ReCaptcha
Now that you have learned what a brute force attack is, you can surely see how the famous attack system ReCaptcha helps prevent these types of information theft techniques. Although it can also be compromised, ReCaptcha is still used to verify that there is no robot automating trial and error actions in a login page.
2FA
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is another of the tools that have become popular to prevent password theft through this and other attacks. This security measure consists of verifying the user’s identity through an additional action, such as entering a code that reaches your email either mobile phone.
In case the user is the victim of a successful brute force attack or their username and password are leaked in a database, two-factor authentication could save an account from being hacked. To do it with your mobile, it is recommended to use an application such as Google Authenticator and not SMS messages, due to a criminal technique known as SIM Swapping, which left its security in question.
How to continue learning?
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