According to Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report, 21% of all data breaches are a result of brute force attacks. This hacking method involves a cybercriminal trying to guess your password over and over again until they succeed. While this may seem like a tedious process, it is highly effective and there are multiple ways this hack can be accomplished. It’s important to learn about the most common brute force attacks your business could fall victim to so you can learn how to protect against them.
What is a Brute Force Attack?
Brute force attacks are effective because many victims do not have strong passwords or other security measures in place. These attacks also deploy a wide variety of methods to guess your credentials and won’t give up until they have your information. That’s why you must have strong security measures in place and understand the different ways brute force attacks can hack your systems.
Types of Brute Force Cybersecurity Attacks
A big reason why brute force attacks are so dangerous is because there are so many different kinds out there. Cybercriminals have found countless ways to figure out your passwords and break into your accounts, constantly keeping you on your toes. The more you learn about these threats though, the better you’ll be able to defend against them.
Simple Brute Force Attack
A simple brute force attack is the most basic method on this list. In this attack, a hacker manually guesses your login credentials. They usually have a premade list of common passwords that they will go through and combine until one of them works. This process can be incredibly tedious and typically is more effective against shorter passwords over longer ones. The cybercriminal likely already has their victim’s username or account number which can sometimes provide clues to what the password might be.
Reverse Brute Force Attack
A reverse brute force attack is the opposite of a simple one. Instead of starting off with a username and having to guess a password, cybercriminals have a password and need to find out who it belongs to. These passwords are typically exposed by a larger network breach, providing hackers with a starting point. Cybercriminals will then use the same process in reverse and try to match the password with a username from a list of employees or users.
Dictionary Attack
As the name suggests, a dictionary attack relies on commonly used words or phrases to guess your login credentials. A cybercriminal might try combining popular words or phrases and replace different letters with numbers or special characters to guess a user’s password. This kind of brute force attack also has its own dictionary software hackers can use to help them generate numerous passwords with different words, numbers, and special characters mixed in. This automates the process, making it much faster and easier for cybercriminals to steal your credentials.
Credential Stuffing
People tend to reuse passwords and cybercriminals are aware of this. Cybercriminals use an attack called credential stuffing where if they guess the password to one of your accounts, they will try to use it on others. And changing just one character in a password from site to site isn’t enough to fool hackers. If the exact password doesn’t work for them, they will use the same brute force attack method to guess which iteration of the password is being used.
How to Protect Yourself from Brute Force Attacks
Now that you know the various brute force attacks cybercriminals can use to steal your information, you need to learn how to defend against them. Stolen credentials can wreak havoc on your business, revealing sensitive information to cybercriminals who will misuse it, make it public, or even hold it for ransom. Luckily, these simple brute force attacks can be combatted with equally simple defenses. For example, since these attacks rely on hackers guessing your passwords, make sure yours are long and complex. Aim for your passwords to be at least 12 characters and include multiple numbers and special symbols.
Just like how you keep your information safe, you should also keep your passwords protected. Use a password manager like LastPass to hide your passwords from hackers. Password managers keep your passwords in one place that is encrypted that only you can access with a master password using multi-factor authentication (MFA). This way instead of having to remember multiple long and complex passwords you only need to remember one. And cybercriminals have a harder time breaking into password managers since they would need to verify their identity using MFA and don’t have access to your registered device.
Don’t just enable MFA on your password manager though. Enable this security feature on all your accounts to protect against brute force attacks. This way, even if a hacker does figure out your password, they won’t be able to access your account because they aren’t able to verify your identity. When you set up MFA, you provide the account with a secure way to contact you, like an app on your phone. Now whenever someone tries to log into your account, you will get a notification and be able to confirm or deny the login attempt.
Defend Your Business with Strategy IT!
Creating strong passwords and storing them in a secure password manager is only the first step to keeping your business safe from brute force attacks. You also need to constantly monitor your accounts for any suspicious login attempts and have a plan in place in case there is a breach. Don’t risk you or your clients’ important information. Protect your business from all types of cyberthreats by staying up to date on the latest attacks and defenses with our e-course all up cybersecurity. Sign up for these weekly email lessons today and learn the simple ways you can keep your business cybersecure.
