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How does a dictionary attack use a password?
Dictionary attacks are a family of cyberattacks that share a common attack technique. They use long lists—sometimes entire databases–of words and a piece of software. The software reads each word from the list in turn and tries to use it as the password for the account under attack.
How does a salt protect against a dictionary attack?
By adding a random salt, you no longer have dictionary words. Thus a password hash table based on dictionary words will not be helpful in cracking a password. Each salt value requires a different dictionary, so every database that doesn’t use a salt can be attacked with the same dictionary.
What are the different types of password attacks?
A type of brute force attack, dictionary attacks rely on our habit of picking “basic” words as our password, the most common of which hackers have collated into “cracking dictionaries.” More sophisticated dictionary attacks incorporate words that are personally important to you, like a birthplace, child’s name, or pet’s name.
What’s the best defense against a dictionary attack?
Another common defense strategy against a dictionary attack is to automatically disable an account after a certain number of failed login attempts.
How is password spray attack different from other attacks?
An even more targeted password guessing attack is when the hacker selects a person and conducts research to see if they can guess the user’s password—discovering family names through social media posts, for example. And then trying those variants against an account to gain access. Password spray is the opposite.
Is the threat of a password breach real?
If all the media buzz about high-profile security breaches with millions of user credentials and passwords up for sale on the open market aren’t enough to convince you that the threat to password security is real, then a better understanding of how such attacks occur may be enough to convince you.
How is a hacker able to guess a password?
An even more targeted password guessing attack is when the hacker selects a person and conducts research to see if they can guess the user’s password— discovering family names through social media posts, for example. And then trying those variants against an account to gain access.