Rene Kluwen gave a hands-on introduction to JavaScript and brute-force password cracking. At the end of the lesson, our students were able to write a JavaScript program themselves!
A “brute-force” attack is a type of cyberattack that relies on a system of trial and error– trying every possible combination of characters to crack an encrypted piece of information, such as a password. Imagine someone trying to crack the combination for a lock by trying every possible combination of numbers: this would be classified as a brute force attack. Although brute-force attacks eventually work, they can understandably be quite time-consuming. Hackers usually use an automated system that guesses possible passwords at a much faster rate than any person could. Generally, the longer the password, the longer it takes for a computer to crack it.
A hacker can have many motivations behind committing a brute-force password cracking attack. Hackers often want to steal important information, use certain information to blackmail their victim, delete or alter information, or preform espionage on their victim.
Source: Brute force attack
