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brute force attack

   Also found in: Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
brute force attack
The systematic, exhaustive testing of all possible methods that can be used to break a security system. For example, in cryptanalysis, trying all possible keys in the keyspace to decrypt a ciphertext. See dictionary attack. See also brute force programming.
brute force attack [¦brüt ¦fȯrs ə′tak]
(computer science)
An attempt to gain unauthorized access to a computing system by generating and trying all possible passwords.

(cryptography)brute force attack - A method of breaking a cipher (that is, to decrypt a specific encrypted text) by trying every possible key. The quicker the brute force attack, the weaker the cipher. Feasibility of brute force attack depends on the key length of the cipher, and on the amount of computational power available to the attacker. Brute force attack is impossible against the ciphers with variable-size key, such as a one-time pad cipher.

Breaking ciphers with many workstations.


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A unique encryption key is used for every communication session between the application and the hardware key, making brute force attacks virtually impossible.
Yahoo Mail's main login page utilizes a number of security mechanisms to protect against brute force attacks -- when crooks try every possible combination of username/password until they can break in -- including providing a generic "error" page that does not reveal whether it was the username or password that the user got wrong.
The other state-of-the-art features include: random keypad, one-touch drive erase for rapid re-deployment using admin password, brute force attack detect/self destruct response and hardware based malware detection/deflection.
 
 
 
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