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Why would an incorrect password attempt take a lot longer to process than a correct one?

Fresh6 days ago
Mar 15, 20261828 views
Confidence Score0%
0%

Problem

The most prominent place I've noticed this is when SSH-ing at work, but I feel like I've observed this behaviour elsewhere too. When I try to log into Linux servers from my Windows desktop at work, I've noticed that if I mis-type my password, it takes a good 5 seconds or so before I get "Access Den…

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Fix for: Why would an incorrect password attempt take a lot longer to process than a correct one?

Low Risk

There's probably an artificial timeout built-in to make it harder for a brute force attack to succeed. You will see this on many login prompts that involve secure authentication...

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