fighting words

The Wordnik Word of the Day for September 18, 2012 is

dictionary attack
http://www.wordnik.com/words/dictionary attack

(noun) An attack that uses a list of words (from a dictionary) to guess passwords or decryption keys.

This term seems to have originated in the late 1980s.

 

Example:
During a dictionary attack, a single domain is bombarded with emails using a huge number of names as potential email addresses, so that hopefully at least one or two will reach geRead More...