A type of password attack that does not attempt to decrypt any information but simply tries each of the words in a dictionary in hopes that the user has used one of the words as his or her password. To help prevent brute-force attacks many systems will only allow a user to make a mistake in entering their username or password three or four times. If the user exceeds these attempts the system will either lock them out of the system or prevent any future attempts for a set amount of time. Also see: Brute-force attack, Security definitions | 
