Dictionary Attack

I have a very short query here . While searching for a solution for recovering password of a PDF file that i have forgotten, i came across a word on internet called dictionary attack.

Well, i got the solution for recovering my password but this word has made me confused. Is anyone here to make me understand what is meant by Dictionary attack ? Thanks in advance.

A dictionary attack is a method of breaking into a password-protected computer or server by systematically entering every word in a dictionary as a password. It consists of trying every word in the dictionary as a possible password for an encrypted message. It is very fast and uses a brute-force technique of successively trying all the words in an exhaustive list. It is generally more efficient than a brute force attack, because users typically choose poor passwords.Sophisticated dictionary attacks sort words by frequency of use and start with the most likely possibilities.The password can be recovered only in case it is present in the dictionary. The probability that this assumption is true is not, in fact, high. They are generally far less successful against systems that use passphrases instead of passwords.

The word “dictionary” refers to the attacker exhausting all of the words in a dictionary in an attempt to discover the password. There are really two different kinds of dictionary attacks, The first method to ensure the success of a dictionary attack to improve a larger dictionary, or dictionaries to use. The technical dictionaries and foreign language dictionaries will increase the overall chance to discover the correct password.They can use a program to automatically try thousands of different possible passwords to break into accounts remotely.The second method of improving the success of a dictionary attack is to perform string manipulation on the dictionary.If you know mail server and that the e-mail addresses just simply by that name, then a brute force way to calculate the e-mail addresses on my server is a valid message to send to any address and see what those bounce.

Dictionary attacks work because many computer users and businesses insist on using ordinary words as passwords. They are rarely successful and not successful against systems that use multiple-word phrases, from systems that arbitrary combination of uppercase and lowercase letters mixed up with numbers to use. In these systems, the brute force method of attack is trying sometimes effective, although this approach old to return results can take.Nevertheless, since Dictionary Attack doesn’t take much time, it is recommended to try it before proceeding to the slow Brute Force Attack.