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How to Strengthen Your Credentials against Brute Force Attack?
Before getting into the topic, let's first understand the concept of brute force. A brute force attack involves guessing login information encryption keys or locating a hidden web page by trial and error. The premise behind such an attack is that you will ultimately be correct if you repeatedly guess a password. By attempting to guess the email/username and password, the attacker hopes to acquire forced access to a user account. The goal is to utilize the compromised account to launch a large-scale assault, steal essential data, take down the system, or do all three.
It takes little ingenuity or knowledge to write code that conducts this sort of attack, and there are even readily accessible automated systems that submit thousands of passwords tries each second. Hackers try all conceivable combinations in the hopes of making the right guess. These assaults are carried out using 'brute force,' which means they try to 'force' their way into your private account by using extreme force. Although this is an older attack method, it remains efficient and popular among hackers. Because breaking a password can take anything from a few seconds to several years, depending on its length and complexity.
How to Strengthen the Credentials?
You can use the following methods to strengthen your credentials against brute force attack −
Use WAF
A web application firewall (WAF) can defend your system against brute force attacks that try to obtain unauthorized access. It generally imposes a limit on the number of queries a source may make to a URL space in a specific time period. WAFs can prevent denial-of-service (DOS) attacks that deplete server resources and block vulnerability scanning programs that probe your computer network for flaws and brute force attacks that try to steal session tokens.
Use CAPTCHAs
"Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart" is what CAPTCHA stands for. CAPTCHAs are challenges that are tough for automated computer systems to complete but simple for people to complete, such as identifying patterns or clicking on a certain place on a webpage. Bots and spam usually use websites.
A Strong Password Policy
Keeping your passwords as strong as possible is the most significant security against password hacks. To crack your password, brute force assaults rely on the passage of time. So, your objective is to make sure your password slows down these attempts as much as possible because most hackers will give up and move on if the breach takes too long to be useful. Use longer passwords with diverse characters.
Users should use 10-character passwords that incorporate symbols or digits wherever available. There are 171.3 quintillions (1.71 × 1020) possibilities when you do this. Cracking the password would take 526 years using a GPU processor that attempts 10.3 billion hashes per second. On the other hand, a supercomputer might crack it in a matter of weeks. Adding extra characters, by this logic, makes your password even more difficult to crack.
IP Address Monitoring
You should only allow people from a certain IP address or range to log in. This is especially critical if you have a hybrid workplace or if the majority of your workers work from home. Set up alerts for any login attempts from unusual IP addresses and make sure they're blocked.
Disable Root SSH Logins
Brute force attacks on the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol are possible using the root user. Set the "DenyUsers root" and "PermitRootLogin no" options in the "sshd config" file to prevent the root user from being accessed via SSH.
Use 2-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication, also known as two-factor authentication, adds an extra layer of security to your accounts. When logging into an account, 2FA requires a user to verify their identity before being granted access. When 2FA is enabled, for example, you'll be prompted to validate that you're the one trying to log into your email. You'd have to enter a password before accessing your account, usually sent to your mobile number.
Unique Login URLs
Creating distinct login URLs for multiple user groups would be another challenging and time-consuming step for an attacker. It may not be enough to prevent a brute force assault, but it may be enough to dissuade would-be attackers.
Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS)
Intrusion detection systems aid in detecting and reporting network security problems and attacks; however, they are not without flaws. You can't use IDS to avoid or respond to these problems; you'll need a different set of tools for that. SIEM (security information and event management) software is an excellent approach to discover, evaluate, and respond to threats quickly.
Other options include mandating workers to utilize secure, encrypted connections and a password manager to change your default ports and hide your connections manually. On your servers, only SALTED password hashes are stored. Adopting PKI-based authentication and, most crucially, requiring obligatory Cyber Awareness Training.
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