According to a recent report, the number of cybercrimes has nearly doubled over the past five years. In 2008, there were over 3.6 million reported cases. The reprobates that commit these crimes rely on a surprisingly small bag of tricks. In this article we are going to discuss one of their favourites, brute force attacks.

We know, it sounds quite violent. But these attacks have nothing to do with aggression or physical confrontation. They are merely virtual attacks. Not that that makes them any less damaging. A cybercriminal can make off with twenty times as much as the average bank robber in half the time and with limited risk.

So, what is a brute attack? As the name implies, it is when an intruder attempts to force his way into your system. Once inside, the criminal can access encrypted data and steal confidential information, like credit card numbers before the owner can denyhosts.

The beauty of the technique, if such a thing can be called beautiful, is that it relies on software that is readily available on the internet, which means that it is impossible to trace. This software will attempt to gain access to your system by randomly guessing your password and user ID. If the software is able to crack the code before it is detected by the owner, then all of the information on the server is in play, including FTP accounts and emails.

How do you prevent brute force attacks? For starters, you must recognise the warning signs. When a network has been accessed from the outside, it will manifest signs of an infection. This often means that operations will slow and the computer may even freeze when attempting several things at once. If you experience any of these symptoms, check your log files immediately to see if any unknown users have attempted to login to your server. If you notice scores of failed login attempts, it probably means that someone is trying to break into your system.

The most reliable way to prevent these attacks is to limit the number of login attempts to two or three. Honestly, how much more do you need? After all, if someone forgets his user information, he can always request a new password or user ID.