Brute Force Attack

A Brute Force Attack is the simplest method to gain access to a site or server (or anything that is password protected). It tries various combinations of usernames and passwords until it gets in. This repetitive action is like an army attacking a fort.

Transcript

1. Brute Force Attack WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO PREVENT IT!
2. What is a Brute Force Attack? • A Brute Force Attack is the simplest method to gain access to a site or server (or anything that is password protected). • It tries various combinations of usernames and passwords until it gets in. This repetitive action is like an army attacking a fort.
3. How it is done? • Every common ID (for e.g. “admin”) has a password. All you need to do is try to guess the password. Simple, isn’t it? • Well, not really! • Let’s say if it’s a 4-digit-pin, you have 10 numeric digits from 0 to 9. This means there are 100 possibilities. • You can figure this out with pen and paper like Mr. Bean did in the movie, Mr. Bean’s Holiday. • But, the truth is that no password in the world consists of only 4 characters.
4. How it is done? • Let’s say if we have an alphanumeric 8-character password. – We can have 52 possible alphabetic (normal + UPPER & Lower) combinations – Now add the Numeric digits, i.e. 10. – So, we have 62 characters in total. • For 8-character-password, it will be 628 which will make 2.1834011×1014 possible combinations. • If we attempt 218 trillion combinations at 1 try per second, it would take 218 trillion seconds or 3.6 trillion minutes, or at most, around 7 million years to crack the password.
5. Then, How Can It Happen? • If you are interested in cracking passwords, you will have to use computers and write a few basic codes. • But a normal computer won’t do. You would need a supercomputer. – After almost 1x109 attempts per second, after 22 seconds, You should be able to break an 8 character password. • Computing resources of this kind are not available to common people. But hackers are not common people.
6. That’s Scary! What to do Now? • It is essential to have additional layers of security in order to detect and deflect any password breaching attempt. • There are many tools available for securing different applications which deny a user after a predefined number of attempts. • For example, for SSH we can use Fail2ban or Deny hosts.
7. How To Prevent It? • Take these precautionary measures to prevent attacks: –Create a longer password. –Use UPPERCASE and lowercase alphabets, numbers, and special characters. –Use different passwords for different accounts.
8. Am I Safe on Cloudways? Yes! • Our security system is capable of identifying brute force attacks and banning IP’s being used in such attacks. • We are always at work to protect our Cloudways Platform and the servers hosted on it. SIGN UP NOW AND SEE FOR YOURSELF!