Bruter

A weak countersign is for an attacker like a free invitation to accessing sensitive information but a strong one, although not unbreakable, can discourage attempts because of the time and resources needed to reveal it.

Bruter is a simple solution that can show just how easily a password can be discovered, by using brute a force attack.

The application does not need to be installed as the main screen is launched immediately after double-clicking the executable file from the extracted archive.

A straightforward interface presents all the options available in the product. Making the settings for revealing the password is far from a difficult job if your are in the least familiar with brute force attack software and the principle they rely on.

Basically, such software requires a dictionary for trying out various combos of usernames and passwords until the correct pair is detected.

The dictionaries are plain text files containing strings of text that can be used as credentials. For the purpose of testing you can create them from scratch, based on the example provided among the application files.

Bruter works with various protocols, from HTTP, FTP, IMAP or POP3 to SMTP, telnet, SMB, SIP, or VNC. Some of them require more configuration in order to make the connection to the target.

Additional options permit defining how the attempts should be carried out and include the possibility to restrict the number of connections and retries as well as set a waiting period between each attempt to test the credentials.

In the case of weaker passwords Bruter should not spend too much time before returning the correct combination. Stronger ones, on the other hand, may take some while and additional security measures imposed for the target have a great chance of rendering the attempt futile.

Bruter is not a complicated program but it makes for a good demonstration tool for the importance of strong passwords and the efficacy of additional security measures against brute-force attacks.