Brute Force Attack (BFA)

The brute force attack is intended to crack a password/ key using a series of automated trials and errors. Using brute force attack requires special software that floods the system with every possible password or key just to get the right one.

Although in theory, a brute force attack can be used to find the correct password of any system, the amount of time required can range from almost instantaneous to immeasurable. The time required exponentially grows with more characters added to the password linearly.

For example, with all the modern cryptographic keys following 128 or 256 bit, it requires higher computational power. Something only possible using a supercomputer. Oftentimes, instead of using brute force attacks, cybercriminals rely upon exploiting human errors within the system.