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Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Foundational

Account Lockout

Disabling an account temporarily or permanently after a set number of failed login attempts.

Definition

Lockout thresholds slow online password guessing but can be abused to cause denial of service against users. NIST recommends throttling that limits failed attempts (no more than 100 consecutive failures) rather than aggressive lockouts. Smart lockout features distinguish legitimate users from attackers.

Example

A policy locks an account for 15 minutes after 10 failed attempts within 5 minutes.

Exam tip

Lockout stops brute force but not password spraying, which uses few attempts per account.

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