Why is a password with both numbers and letters stronger than one with only letters? Attackers will include numbers in their brute force attempts anyway, so how does it make a difference?

Question

Why is a password with both numbers and letters stronger than one with only letters? Attackers will include numbers in their brute force attempts anyway, so how does it make a difference?

In: Technology

Answer 1

No, it’s not necessary to include numbers in cracking attempt if you know there are passwords in the targeted datasets without numbers. You don’t aim to crack all exposed passwords, that’s unlikely to be possible, you aim for the lowest hanging fruit you can reasonably get.