Brute Force Attacks – How Hackers Guess Your Passwords?

While locks and keys protect our assets in the physical world, in the same way, usernames and passwords shield our online information with a security layer. But what if someone cracks your password and breaks into one or more of your online accounts, say net-banking? There are several tools and methods to break passwords with each one having their own special recipe. Brute Force Attacks are one of those methods used by hackers wherein a hacker tries a number of passwords and phrases in the hope to eventually guessing the correct one.

How does it work?

The basic concept behind a Brute Force Attack is to try and test every possible combination that could make a password. As the password length increases, the time to guess the correct password increases exponentially.

Major Brute Force Attacks

• In July 1998, CERT reported an incident where an attacker had found 186,126 encrypted passwords. By the time they were discovered, they had already cracked 47,642 passwords.
• In June 2011, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) experienced a security breach that led to the public release of first and last names, usernames, and passwords for more than 11,000 registered users of their e-bookshop.
• In December 2009, a major password breach of the Rockyou.com website occurred that led to the release of 32 million passwords.

Counter Measures

Stop Sharing

Never share your personal information with anyone over any media. Be it social media, telephone calls, or instant messaging, make sure your confidential information does not get leaked out.

2-factor authentication

When it is about security, it is never bad to maximize its layers. While logging in to your online accounts, say net-banking, OTP generation provides an extra layer of security other than your password. So, if your online accounts support two-factor authentication, just activate it now.

Use Long passwords

Keeping your passwords a little complex and long would make it difficult for the attacker to guess it. The longer the length of the password, the longer would be the time to guess it. So it’s an add-on to your security.

Security Software

Many computer and mobile phone users simply ignore the importance of having a total security software. However, having one can benefit you in many ways as it has anti-phishing, anti-spam features that protect the system from cyber attacks. Also, it scans your device for any type of malware and removes it, if detected.

Stay tuned with us for more tips on cyber security.