Attackers Exploit Contextual Language for Targeted Password Guesses
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Attackers are leveraging contextual language from organizations' public-facing content to create targeted password wordlists, significantly improving their success rates in credential attacks. Tools like CeWL, an open-source web crawler, extract relevant terminology from websites, which attackers then transform into plausible password guesses. This method bypasses standard complexity requirements and exploits users' tendency to incorporate familiar organizational language into their passwords. The effectiveness of this approach lies in its relevance to the organization's internal vocabulary, making it more likely to match users' password patterns. Defenders are advised to implement controls that block context-derived and known-compromised passwords, enforce longer passphrases, and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) to mitigate these attacks.
Timeline
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09.02.2026 17:01 1 articles · 7h ago
Attackers Exploit Contextual Language for Targeted Password Guesses
Attackers are leveraging contextual language from organizations' public-facing content to create targeted password wordlists, significantly improving their success rates in credential attacks. Tools like CeWL, an open-source web crawler, extract relevant terminology from websites, which attackers then transform into plausible password guesses. This method bypasses standard complexity requirements and exploits users' tendency to incorporate familiar organizational language into their passwords. Defenders are advised to implement controls that block context-derived and known-compromised passwords, enforce longer passphrases, and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) to mitigate these attacks.
Show sources
- Password guessing without AI: How attackers build targeted wordlists — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 09.02.2026 17:01
Information Snippets
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Attackers use tools like CeWL to harvest contextual language from organizations' public-facing content to create targeted password wordlists.
First reported: 09.02.2026 17:011 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Password guessing without AI: How attackers build targeted wordlists — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 09.02.2026 17:01
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CeWL is included by default in penetration testing distributions such as Kali Linux and Parrot OS.
First reported: 09.02.2026 17:011 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Password guessing without AI: How attackers build targeted wordlists — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 09.02.2026 17:01
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Attackers transform harvested terms into plausible password guesses using common patterns like numeric suffixes, capitalization, and appended symbols.
First reported: 09.02.2026 17:011 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Password guessing without AI: How attackers build targeted wordlists — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 09.02.2026 17:01
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Tools like Hashcat apply mutation rules to generate and test millions of targeted password candidates against compromised data.
First reported: 09.02.2026 17:011 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Password guessing without AI: How attackers build targeted wordlists — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 09.02.2026 17:01
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Passwords derived from contextual language often satisfy standard complexity requirements but remain weak within the specific organizational context.
First reported: 09.02.2026 17:011 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Password guessing without AI: How attackers build targeted wordlists — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 09.02.2026 17:01
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Defenders are advised to block context-derived and known-compromised passwords, enforce longer passphrases, and enable MFA to mitigate these attacks.
First reported: 09.02.2026 17:011 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Password guessing without AI: How attackers build targeted wordlists — www.bleepingcomputer.com — 09.02.2026 17:01