Question

What type of attack involves using every possible combination of letters, numbers, and characters to create candidate digests that are then matched against those in a stolen digest file?

Answer 1

The answer is Brute Force. The attack that involves using every possible combination of letters, numbers, and characters to create candidate digests that are then matched against those in a stolen digest file is Brute Force.
It is also known as brute force cracking. It is a trial and error method used to decode passwords or Data Encryption Standard (DES) keys, through comprehensive effort (brute force).