To check the login attempts to see if it needs to be reset

To check the login attempts to see if it needs to be reset type faillog -u

root@testsrv:~ # faillog -u user1
Username Failures Maximum Latest
user1 15 0

Reset the counter with the -r flag:

root@testsrv:~ # /usr/bin/faillog -r user1
Username Failures Maximum Latest
user1 0 0