First of all, we have to know what a brute force attack is. It is basically a trial-and-error method. Hackers mainly use this for encryption keys, to find a hidden web page, to crack passwords, or to guess login info. It is a basic technique to gain unauthorized access to the systems. The hackers systematically check all possible passphrases and passwords until they can find the correct password. Alternatively, using a key derivation function, the hackers can guess the key. This term is called exhaustive key search. Though this is a very old attack method, it is a very popular and effective method among hackers. If the password is very weak it can take a few seconds to crack the password. But if a password is strong then it may take hours or days. 

There are several types of brute force attack which are –

1. Hybrid force attack – It’s usually a combination of brute force attack and dictionary attack. This method basically cracks combo passwords that mix random characters and common words.    
2. Credential stuffing – This attack type basically consists of password and username combination. If a person uses the same username and password combination for various accounts and social media profiles then this approach will be successful.
3. Simple brute force attack – If a person uses extremely simple passwords and PINs like “Public12345” then hackers can logically guess your credentials.
4. Dictionary attacks – In this method, the attacker tests possible passwords against that individual’s username after selecting a target. It is a very time-consuming method and the success rate is very low.
5. Reverse brute force attack – By starting with a known password a reverse brute force attack reverses the attack strategy. The hackers use leaked passwords from existing data breaches.
   • A. Time-based
   • B. Boolean