What is brute force attack?

A brute force attack is a type of cyberattack that involves trying many possible combinations of passwords or encryption keys to gain unauthorized access to a system or data. A brute force attack can be performed manually by a human hacker or automatically by a software program. A brute force attack can exploit the weaknesses of authentication protocols, encryption algorithms, or password policies. A brute force attack can be very time-consuming and resource-intensive, depending on the complexity and length of the password or key. A brute force attack can be prevented or mitigated by using strong passwords or keys, limiting the number of login attempts, implementing captcha or multi-factor authentication, or using encryption methods that are resistant to brute force attacks.