lacework-global-502

1.7 Set a Custom Bad Password List to 'Enforce' for your Organization (Manual)

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• Level 1

Description

Microsoft Azure creates a default bad password policy that is already applied to Azure administrative and normal user accounts. This is not applied to user accounts synced from an on-premise Active Directory unless using Azure AD Connect and you enable EnforceCloudPasswordPolicyForPasswordSyncedUsers.

Please see the list in default values on the specifics of this policy.

Rationale

Enabling this gives your organization further customization on what secure passwords are allowed. Setting a bad password list enables your organization to fine-tune its password policy further, depending on your needs. Removing easy-to-guess passwords increases the security of access to your Azure resources.

Impact

Increasing needed password complexity might increase overhead on administration of user accounts.

Audit

From Azure Portal

1. From Azure Home select the Portal Menu
2. Select Azure Active directory in the menu that opens, and then 'Security'.
3. Under Management select Authentication then Password Protection.
4. Ensure Enforce custom list is set to Yes.
5. Scroll through the list to view the enforced passwords.

Please note that at this point of time, there is no Azure CLI or other API commands available to programmatically conduct security assessment for this recommendation.

Remediation

From Azure Portal

1. From Azure Home select the Portal Menu.
2. Select Azure Active Directory.
3. Select Security.
4. Under Manage, select Authentication Methods.
5. Select Password Protection.
6. Set the Enforce custom list option to Yes.
7. Double click the custom password list to add a string.

Please note that at this point of time, there is no Azure CLI or other API commands available to programmatically conduct security configuration for this recommendation.

References

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/authentication/concept-password-ban-bad-combined-policy
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/authentication/concept-password-ban-bad
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/Azuread/
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/password-guidance/
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/authentication/tutorial-configure-custom-password-protection
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security/benchmark/azure/security-controls-v3-identity-management#im-6-use-strong-authentication-controls