• It is an active attack 1, because someone is actively attacking your system. It is also an active attack because it is affecting the way your system works negatively, and visibly.
• 2, because they have been caught for actively committing a crime.
• lastly, because a brute-force is classified as an active attack, regardless. It is an illegal way to attempt to damage, steal or change a root password.
•<em> Fun fact </em>
<em>A DDoS(distributed denial-of-service) is also classified as an active attack.</em>