What is a Brute Force Attack?

What is a Brute Force Attack?

Brute Force Attack can be defined as the way to gain access over a website or a web server by successive repetitive attempts of various password combinations. This is done to capture the data of the user such as USERID, pin, etc.. in brute force software to generate consecutive password strengths a software will also be developed with the given data. This is also done by introducing malicious software with the help of bots on the target site. This attack is mostly done by cyber-crime people to gain personal or secure data for their own purpose. There are two categories in Brute Force Attacks.

• White Hat Hacking
• Black Hat Hacking

1. White Hat Hacking:

People who hack computers or servers or any other source for a good cause is called White Hat Hackers. Basically, white hat hackers hack systems to check the vulnerability of the system or software or application.

2. Black Hat Hacking:

People who hack computers or servers or any other source for a bad cause called as black hat hackers. Basically black hat hackers hack systems to steal sensitive data from the system or software or application.

The work of the white hat hackers is to save sensitive data from black hat hackers. White hat hackers find the vulnerability of the system or software or application and solve issues.

Types of Brute Force Attack

The main purpose of this attack is to have access to personal and secure information. The methods to try are also many. Let us now discuss them.

There are mainly two types of brute force attacks they are:

• Directory guessing brute force attack.
• Password guessing brute force attack.

1. Directory Guessing Brute Force Attack

The probability of these attacks is more on websites and web servers, for this they use the directories/folders which are rarely used or hidden and then try to personalize them.

For example, If there is a bank named XYZ which has a login page for users to perform various transactions. This directory attack allows an attacker to create a duplicate page and ask users to login with their credentials and the user cannot differentiate between those websites. Once credentials are entered a software will be installed automatically which helps them to have complete control on the page. This way money can be transferred to anonymous accounts.

For this, they mainly focus on folders which have insecure software by guessing methods. The most common guesses will be like:

• /WordPress/
• /test/
• /demo/
• /Joomla/

2. Password Guessing Brute Force Attack

Password guessing attacks are most common in websites and web servers. In this, the attackers use vectors or software to compromise websites which involves trying multiple combinations of user id and password until they find one with the right data. Once entered they can compromise the site with phishing or malicious software.

Most attacks are done by using the most commonly used user id and password combinations. They also manipulate the data related to the website to easily grab the details.

The main target is to find the right credentials to access the website so now let us know the most commonly attacked webpages:

• WordPress wp-admin/wp-login.php login page
• Generic/login pages
• Magento/index.phb/admin/
• Drupal/admin.

Purpose

Purpose of a brute force attack is to gain access to a software or website or mobile application or any other source. The word brute force itself states that it is a force attack to gain access to a software or website or any other source. Using Brute Force Attack we can find usernames and passwords of the users forcibly.

How can the Brute Force Attack Happen?

To successfully accomplish brute force attack we need to find a vulnerability and we need to implement our attacks to crack the password protected website or application or server or any other source. Many basic and dynamic websites or servers or application will be hacked on a regular basis to steal sensitive data. Big giant companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google will check their vulnerabilities and they will solve their loopholes before being attacked. Less secured passwords can be hacked more easily than encrypted passwords. Companies before 2015 used to have normal passwords, from 2016 people started using encrypted passwords like hashed or md5 encrypted passwords which are highly difficult to hack.

The Motive behind a Brute Force Attack

The motive behind a brute force attack is stealing sensitive data and making money out of it which is really bad. Stealing sensitive data can lead a company to the loss or can even lead a whole country into the problem. People became smart and people are able to hack some highly secured websites and applications like NASA, facebook. Twitter etc.

What to do after a Brute Force Attack

If someone steals sensitive data from your software or website or server, First find the vulnerability on your server or system or application and solve it and then start tracing the IP address of the hacker who stole the data from your server or application. Check any other vulnerabilities are present on your site where they can enter into your site forcibly. Better to take preventions and securities before getting hacked.

How to Prevent It?

Before 2010 the attacks were so less but from 2010 the attacks are increasing so fast, If the number of attempts crosses the limit, companies will block the account for few mins or seconds So that the attacker cannot accomplish the attack successfully.

Conclusion

Brute Force Attack is used to hack into a password encrypted system or server or software or applications. Basically, we will get access to sensitive information without user or admin permission. These attacks are done by bad hackers who want to misuse the stolen data. Bearer of this attack keeps your website or app or server vulnerability free. If you are really serious about hacking, become a white hat hacker and protect sensitive data from black hat hacker. Happy Hacking!!

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to Brute Force Attack. Here we discussed some basic concepts, types and how to prevent Brute Force Attack. You can also go through our other suggested articles to learn more –

1. What is AWS and What can you do with it
2. Fundamentals of Software Development
3. Best Javascript Frameworks
4. Cheat Sheet Python for Beginners and Experts