Attacks
Scroll down for names and definitions of the different types of Password Attacks that are out there. For a more interactive journey click here.
Dictionary
When a hacker refers to a variety of commonly used passwords, numbers and sentences to try and hack into accounts.
Guessing
Due to emotional attachments, we tend to base our passwords on subjects of sentiment and may even give clues on our social media that hackers can exploit to guess passwords.
Web Crawling
Savvy hackers have designed bots known as web crawlers that use search engines to gather and index custom information….
…they can use this information in a multitude of ways, but a popular use is password cracking through a brute force attack.
Brute Force
An attacker may work through all possible alpha-numeric combinations with the information they have gathered hoping to eventually crack the correct passphrase.
This process would usually be done through automated tools, bots or scripts and is a popular method for hackers.
Shoulder Surfing
Confident hackers may physically move around in public spaces such as, trains, coffee shops, libraries, offices etc. looking for information in their environment.
One way they do this is by discreetly observing what individuals input into their devices, such as… login details or other sensitive information.