brute-force attack

American  

[broot-fawrs uh-tak] / ˈbrutˈfɔrs əˌtæk /

noun

Computers.

1. a computer hacking technique in which every possible combination of characters is tried until the sought-after password or encryption key is found.

   A malicious hacker may resort to a brute-force attack to gain entry to your account.

---

Etymology

Origin of brute-force attack

First recorded in 2000–05

Example Sentences

The introduction of a salt increases the computing time for a brute-force attack many times over.

From Scientific American • Jun. 13, 2023

If an attacker is able to capture a list of user data and associated hashes, however, there is still the possibility of a brute-force attack.

From Scientific American • Jun. 13, 2023

The tools then use a so-called brute-force attack, which automatically tries thousands of passcodes until one works.

From New York Times • Jan. 17, 2020

Promising sensitive information, the stranger told Poitras to select long pass phrases that could withstand a brute-force attack by networked computers.

From New York Times • Aug. 13, 2013

Also today, in a separate incident, the gossip website Gawker announced that its encrypted database of 1.5 million user names and passwords used for commenting had been cracked by a "brute-force" attack.

From The Guardian • Dec. 12, 2010