A brute-force attack uses a program to try every possible combination of letters, numbers, and special characters until it finds a password or exhausts the search. section 11.2.1
Attack feasibility decreases as password length and complexity increase, making sufficiently strong passwords an important defense. section 11.2.1
Distinguish brute force from related password attacks:
- Guessing uses information about the target, such as birthdays or pets’ names. section 11.2.1
- A dictionary attack tests entries from a list of common passwords rather than every possible character combination. section 11.2.1 section 11.6
- Long, complex, unique, and difficult-to-guess passwords reduce exposure to these methods. section 11.2.1 section 11.6
