How to prevent Brute Force attack?

More than 80% of security breaches involve Brute Force or stolen/ lost credentials. In the recent past, it has increased because of remote workforce. Following a few steps can safeguard the critical systems in an enterprise from being a victim of Brute Force. This brief guide today would help you to know about Brute Force Attack, the motive behind this, and ways to prevent it.

Brute Force Attack: An Overview

A Brute Force attack is a conventional way to compromise a website by stealing the credentials. It happens when a person is repeatedly guessing the login credentials and trying to get access to the elevated accounts. Today, cybercrime has risen exponentially because of the incorporation IT security mechanisms. Due to that, it has been easier for hackers to find out more loopholes to compromise passwords. The correct instance is to crack a high-profile eight-character password in just six hours or lesser than that.

Motives behind Brute Force Attacks

A Brute Force attack is considered to be the first step for a hacker before obtaining unauthorized access. Considering its nature, they target several organizations at a time. It is a way of letting the automated attackers get a match. The motives behind Brute Force Attack are:

● Stealing Credentials

Hackers might need your credentials to use for a different purpose fulfilling their needs. So, they use the process, hoping to get a match and collect the information.

● Spoiling Reputation

By accessing confidential details of the company, cybercriminals can attack the firm by threatening them or spoiling their goodwill. This way, the organization might face huge losses, and malign the reputation.

● Looking for hidden web pages

Another motive of the cyber crooks can be searching for hidden web pages within the website. Here the hackers use guesses to find the URLs of pages in any attempt to get your details.

● Demanding Ransom

After stealing the details, attackers may ask for some money in return for the documents. But the fact is even after giving the cash, they may not provide the details and continue accessing the critical systems. Thus, prevention of Brute Force attacks should be prioritized.

Different ways of Brute Force Attack

Before knowing how to safeguard an organization from Brute Force attack, understanding how it happens holds the greatest importance. Let us analyze closely.

• Simple Brute Force Attack: Many methods are used to find the logins and passwords in this process. It is done to crack local files, as no restrictions are there on the number of attempts.
• Credential stuffing: In this method, hackers use logins that have appeared in a different place. It can be social media platforms, etc. If hackers can get into one website, they can break others as well.
• Dictionary Brute Force Attack:Here, a special dictionary attack is used to pick the most common password. For examples, phrases like welcome, admin, etc. So, never use such terms while setting passwords.
• Hybrid Brute Force Attack: It is a mix of various types aimed to gain access to your confidential information. The process is an amalgamation of both simple and dictionary attacks.

How to prevent Brute Force Attacks?

Here are some ways:

● Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution

It is a perfect solution used for managing, controlling, and monitoring privileged user activities. It offers role and rule-based restricted access, ensuring all accesses are safe. By using the system, you can safeguard your entire structure and eliminate Brute Force Attacks.

Read more about Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution 

● Using stronger passwords

The most effective and easiest way to prevent attackers from accessing your data by creating a strong password. Somewhat complex passwords create a different level of resistance from the hackers. The password should never contain any keyword that can easily guess.

● Using Captcha

Captchas help in differentiating real users and spam computers and are a reliable way to eliminate data thefts. By incorporating captcha, there can be delay in the log in time. So, hackers will surely face a hard time.

● Reducing the number of login attempts

Another effective way to stop hackers from illegal accesses is by reducing the number of login attempts. This happens due to continuous data selection. So, establishing this step can help to avoid attacks.

● Enforcing multi-factor authentication

Multi-level user validation process is required for logging crucial account. Different ways used are retina scars, fingerprints, email message, face scans, SMS codes, etc. Nowadays, many organizations are using this to stop attackers from getting access.

Read more about Privileged Access Management (PAM) :  Multi-factor Authentication feature

● Getting support from the best web security operator

Over time, it has been seen that the best way to avoid Brute Force Attack is by opting for ongoing website support. It helps in protecting the website depending on the newest trends and ensures data protection.

Final thoughts

By opting the best solution, preventing Brute Force attacks can definitely be easier. The right platform and reliable software solutions can help in preventing and detecting attacks through continuous and proactive monitoring. It is the right way to protect organizations’ data assets from getting in the hands of the wrong people.