system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
When authenticating a password, why does it take a computer much longer to return the password as incorrect than it does to verify it?
gpt
That is typically part of the security measure preventing brute force attacks from being effective. If you put a limit on the maximum rate of how frequently you can try a password, you reduce the risk somebody could practically brute force their way in by automatically trying password combinations. The delay that enables such a limit has to go somewhere in the authentication flow, and putting it right after an incorrect login attempt is a fairly reasonable place to put it.