What is an important factor affecting the time required to perpetrate a manual trial and error attack
to gain access to a target computer system?
A.
Keyspace for the password.
B.
Expertise of the person performing the attack.
C.
Processing speed of the system executing the attack.
D.
Encryption algorithm used for password transfer.
Explanation:
I am not sure of the answer on this question. B seems good but the reference below states that
Keyspace (or length of password) is the main deterrent. I did not come across something that
directly relates in my readings.
“If an attacker mounts a trial-and-error attack against your password, a longer password gives the
attacker a larger number of alternatives to try. If each character in the password may take on 96
different values (typical of printable ASCII characters) then each additional character presents the
attacker with 96 times as many passwords to try. If the number of alternatives is large enough, the
trial-and-error attack might discourage the attacker, or lead to the attacker’s detection.”
http://www.smat.us/sanity/riskyrules.html
chek
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This may have been true 20 years ago but today if the attacker is capable i.e. if he/she has the right tools, today’s processing power in computing equipment can break most Ciphers of 20 years ago. Passwords of any shape or length are no big deal. For today’s CISSP test C would be the correct answer.
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