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SecAIQ

Password Spraying

An attack that tries one common password against many different accounts before moving to the next, to avoid triggering lockouts.

·1 min read

Password spraying is an attack technique in which an attacker tries one commonly used password, such as "Password123", against a large number of different accounts before moving on to try the next common password. This is the reverse of a typical brute-force attack, which tries many passwords against one account.

By spreading attempts across many accounts rather than hammering a single one, password spraying avoids triggering the account lockout policies designed to stop rapid-fire guessing on one login. Requiring strong, unique passwords and enabling multi-factor authentication are the most effective defenses against it.

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