Question

A symmetric password is used to encrypt an insurance policy PDF. You discover that the password is
always 7 characters long. The first two digits is the state abbreviation (e.g. New Jersey is NJ) and the
last 5 digits is the zip code where the insurance policy is created. Using brute force, how many possible
combinations are there?

Answer 1

ANSWER :-

According to me the answer would be 2,085,100 combinations.

EXPLANATION:-

As, the password pattern for Brute-Force attack in this case would be SSZZZZZ, which has two part :

1) SS - State part, which is a set of total no of states in USA = 50.

2) ZZZZZ - Zip code part, which is a set of total no of zip codes in USA = 41702.

So, technically our password is made up of combination of two fields S and Z.

Therefore,

AS THE STATE AND ZIP ARE CONSTANT AND IT WILL GO AS IT IS IN THE PASSWORDS

COMBINATION = S * Z = 50 * 41702 = 2,085,100