Attacks and malware
What is Brute force?
Trying huge numbers of passwords or keys until one works, either against a live login or offline against stolen password hashes.
A brute force attack tries many possible passwords or keys until one works. It can be online, against a live login page or service, or offline, against stolen password hashes on the attacker's own hardware.
Password spraying is a careful variant: one or two common passwords tried across many accounts, to stay below lockout limits. Long unique passwords, lockouts and multi-factor authentication are the main defences.