2 Jan 2024
A Brute Force attack is often used to crack passwords, particularly the password to access the WordPress admin area.
In this attack, all possible combinations of available characters are attempted. It is a very inefficient method due to its time-consuming nature, but it eventually yields results.
Brute Force is a blunt force attack without a specific plan.
What does a Brute Force attack target?
In WordPress, a Brute Force attack targets the wp-admin area where login fields are located.
To conduct such an attack, an attacker needs your username, after which they will try to “guess” the password using a Brute Force approach.
The username is often easy to find, and even manually, this usually takes only 1-2 minutes.
Prosecuting the perpetrator behind a Brute Force attack
It is challenging to pinpoint the exact responsible party behind a Brute Force attack.
Usually, a Brute Force attack does not originate from the attacker’s computer or website but rather from a hacked website or webserver belonging to an innocent person.
Has my website experienced a Brute Force attack?
Every website indexed by Google encounters multiple hacked servers or websites unknowingly executing Brute Force attacks on an automated basis.
Cracking passwords
A fast server/computer without internet limits can submit about 2 million passwords!!
With a 6-character/number password, a Brute Force attack can crack the password within a few hours.
With a 7-8-9 character/number password, it takes 1 day.
With a password consisting of more than 10-12 characters/numbers, it takes several months.
And with a “PhraseLike-this-one-with_more-than_21_letters_and_D!verse-characters,” it takes several years to crack it!
In summary, create a strong password!
Can a failed Brute Force attack cause harm?
Even if your password is so complex that it cannot be guessed, and the username cannot be determined, your website still suffers from Brute Force attacks.
Considering that visitors typically request 1-5 pages during their visit, but a Brute Force attack can make 1,000-10,000 requests per minute to your website, you can understand how this affects your website’s speed, resulting in slow loading times for your visitors.
Read also about how to prevent a Brute Force attack.
