<P> In cryptography, a brute - force attack consists of an attacker trying many passwords or passphrases with the hope of eventually guessing correctly . The attacker systematically checks all possible passwords and passphrases until the correct one is found . Alternatively, the attacker can attempt to guess the key which is typically created from the password using a key derivation function . This is known as an exhaustive key search . </P> <P> A brute - force attack is a cryptanalytic attack that can, in theory, be used to attempt to decrypt any encrypted data (except for data encrypted in an information - theoretically secure manner). Such an attack might be used when it is not possible to take advantage of other weaknesses in an encryption system (if any exist) that would make the task easier . </P>

What is an attack where every possible password is attempted using a random or logical algorithm