What would be the best approach to prevent a successful brute force attack on an administrative account?

Creating a strong random password is indeed the best approach to preventing a successful brute force attack on an administrative account. A brute force attack involves an attacker systematically guessing passwords until the correct one is found. By utilizing strong, complex passwords that include a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols, the number of potential password combinations increases significantly, making it far more difficult for an attacker to succeed within a reasonable amount of time.

Furthermore, strong passwords are typically long, which greatly increases the time and computational resources required to crack them, effectively acting as a barrier against brute-force methods. Implementing password policies that enforce the creation of strong passwords is a fundamental aspect of a robust security strategy.

In contrast, while options like preventing remote access or tracking usage via audit trails can contribute to overall security, they do not directly address the specific vulnerability of weak passwords that can be exploited through brute force attacks. Asking for a vendor patch may enhance security but is not related to the fundamental issue of password strength and is more focused on remedying known software vulnerabilities rather than dealing with authentication methods.