A Comparative Study Between Two Cybersecurity Attacks: Brute Force and Dictionary Attacks

Abstract

In today's world, information drives not only business but nearly every aspect of human life. Therefore, safeguarding valuable information from malicious activities like attacks has become essential. Brute force search and dictionary attacks are prevalent cybersecurity threats, in which an attacker systematically attempts all possible passwords and passphrases to gain access to a user's account. These types of attacks are common due to the widespread reuse of simple password variations. The goal of this study is to discover as many passwords as possible and demonstrate their predictability and susceptibility. Our focus was on comparing two cracking methods, such as brute force search attacks and dictionary attacks, assessing their effectiveness and time requirements.