Password Attacks
Passwords are still a common means of authentication, and as a cybersecurity professional, you need to be aware of the following common password attacks so that you can identify them:
- Dictionary attack: In a dictionary attack, an attacker attempts to crack passwords using an exhaustive list of words found in a dictionary. Passwords with misspellings or special characters such as
$
or%
that are not found in dictionaries are typically resistant to this type of attack. - Password spraying: Instead of checking every single combination, sprayers focus on a few common usernames (such as
admin
,root
, oruser
) and try a list of common passwords (such as123456
,password
,password123
,letmein
, andchangeme
). You can prevent password spraying by implementing strong password policies, MFA, and monitoring systems for unusual login patterns. - Brute force: Brute-force attacks may use password lists or rainbow tables, which are precomputed tables of hash values for...