Which two methods are commonly used by password cracking tools?

• A. Limited force and library attack
• B. Maximum force and thesaurus attack
• C. Minimum force and appendix attack
• D. Brute force and dictionary attack

Answer: (D)

Password cracking tools commonly rely on two practical approaches: brute force and dictionary attacks. Brute force exhaustively tries every possible combination of characters up to the password’s length, guaranteeing a crack if given enough time, but the effort grows exponentially with longer and more complex passwords. A dictionary attack uses a predefined list of likely passwords—common words, names, and typical variations—and tests them quickly, making it effective against passwords that resemble real-world choices. Many tools blend these methods with rules to modify dictionary entries (hybrid attacks), extending coverage without brute-forcing the entire space. Other terms like thesaurus or library attacks aren’t standard methods used in this context.