Every story tagged Brute Force Attack, curated for CIOs and IT leaders — ranked by source credibility, engagement, and freshness.
3 stories · open in the command center
Dashlane disclosed a coordinated attack where threat actors exploited the device enrollment API through brute-force attacks on two-factor authentication codes, successfully downloading encrypted password vaults from fewer than 20 users before automated security systems intervened. While the encrypted vaults remain protected by Dashlane's Argon2 algorithm and strong master passwords would be extremely difficult to crack, this incident exposes a critical vulnerability in authentication mechanisms and highlights the evolving sophistication of credential-focused attacks targeting password managers. IT leaders must reassess their security posture around identity verification systems and API rate-limiting controls, as attackers increasingly use distributed attack patterns to circumvent traditional account-level protections.
Credit card payment systems remain vulnerable to brute force attacks despite PCI DSS compliance, as attackers can derive full Primary Account Numbers using only publicly visible data (first 6 digits, last 4 digits, expiration date) and the Luhn algorithm, combined with permissive payment gateway response codes that leak validation information. This vulnerability is compounded by merchants implementing only bare-minimum PCI DSS requirements and some payment processors accepting incomplete card data, creating a significant fraud risk that extends beyond traditional account compromise scenarios. IT and security leaders must recognize that current industry compliance standards do not guarantee adequate protection and should implement additional controls such as stricter payment validation responses, mandatory CVV requirements, and enhanced fraud detection systems.
A WordPress site experienced a brute-force attack generating 288,493 requests in 24 hours to XML-RPC endpoints, which was detected not through traditional uptime or CPU monitoring, but through an anomalous drop in cache hit ratio from 70-90% to 0.8%. The attack leveraged XML-RPC's system.multicall feature to test hundreds of credentials per request, bypassing conventional rate limiting while consuming significant server resources. This incident highlights the need for defense-in-depth security strategies combining edge protection (WAF rules) and application-level hardening, as well as monitoring non-traditional metrics like cache performance for early threat detection.