Hello,

As a beginner programmer, I'm wondering why some sites program their web applications to prevent brute force attacking. For example, if you fail logging in with a wrong password for a user 5 times, then it will automatically lock that user account for 15 minutes.

I just don't see why its necessary. For example, to brute force a actual password may take up to 20,000+ attempts or even more depending on the password. I never actually tried to brute force anything. My guess to build a brute force script is to obtain a brute force dictionary, know how to utilize it so that it creates password after password, and then use the generated password in some automative LWP script to log-in a particular password protected site. This could be way off or may be on the right track. Anyways back to the 20,000+ attempts. What kind of web server will actually allow a IP to "keep calling the same script 20,000+ times to brute force?" Or am I wrong about this?

Also, most hackers out there will probably want another method other then brute forcing and brute forcing may become less and less popular when it comes to stealing a "web application's users password."

My site is not huge, but it is a membership site where subscribers have to pay monthly. I have about 60 subscribers now and wondering if I should build that "password locking" feature to prevent brute force attacks? Is this necessary? Are there any other reasons why people build that password locking feature? I know some will say if my site is not that important, then it may not be necessary. But I guess I'm just curiuos and would like to know if I was to work in future projects.

Cheers,
Gerald

In reply to Why do you have to worry about Brute Force Attacks? by Anonymous Monk

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