Ricardo has discovered the username for an application in his target's environment. As he has a limited amount of time, he decides to attempt to use a list of common passwords he found on the Internet

Question

Options

• ABrute force
• BKnown plaintext
• CDictionary
• DPassword spraying

• A
  2% (1)
• B
  3% (2)
• C
  93% (57)
• D
  2% (1)

Explanation

Dictionary Attack Explained

Why C is correct: Ricardo is performing a dictionary attack because he is using a pre-compiled list of common, known passwords (sourced from the internet) and feeding that list directly into his cracking tool. Dictionary attacks rely on a predefined wordlist rather than generating every possible character combination.

Why the other options are wrong:

• A (Brute force): Brute force systematically tries every possible combination of characters - Ricardo isn't doing that; he's using a specific, curated list
• B (Known plaintext): This is a cryptographic attack where the attacker already has matched plaintext/ciphertext pairs to deduce an encryption key - completely unrelated to password guessing
• D (Password spraying): This involves trying one or a few common passwords across many usernames to avoid lockouts - Ricardo has one username and many passwords, which is the opposite scenario

Memory Tip: Think of it this way - a dictionary is a book of existing words, just like a dictionary attack uses a list of existing passwords. If someone is cycling through a pre-made list, it's a dictionary attack. If they're trying every possible combination, it's brute force.

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