Brute Force Attack
An attack method that systematically tries every possible password or key combination until the correct one is found, relying on computational power rather than cleverness.
A brute force attack is the simplest form of password cracking — the attacker's software tries every possible combination until it finds the right one. A 4-digit PIN can be cracked in seconds; an 8-character lowercase password in hours. Modern GPUs can test billions of combinations per second. The defence is straightforward: use long, complex passwords and enable account lockout after failed attempts.