The IDPS must enforce password complexity by the number of lower case characters used.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-34673	SRG-NET-000156-IDPS-00114	SV-45548r1_rule		Medium

Description
Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password complexity is one factor of several that determine how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password is requires a greater number of possible combinations to be tested before the password is compromised. Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Combinations requiring the use of upper case, lower case, numbers, and special characters enhance the complexity of the password string. This control applies to passwords configured or controlled by the IDPS itself.

Description

Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password complexity is one factor of several that determine how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password is requires a greater number of possible combinations to be tested before the password is compromised. Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Combinations requiring the use of upper case, lower case, numbers, and special characters enhance the complexity of the password string. This control applies to passwords configured or controlled by the IDPS itself.

STIG	Date
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS) Security Requirements Guide	2012-11-19

Details

Check Text ( C-42897r1_chk )
If authentication functionality is provided by the underlying platform's account management system or by a network authentication server rather than the IDPS application itself, this is not a finding. Review the IDPS configuration and settings to determine whether passwords contain the organization defined number of lower case characters. If the IDPS does not force the password to have the organization defined number of lower case characters, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-42897r1_chk )

If authentication functionality is provided by the underlying platform's account management system or by a network authentication server rather than the IDPS application itself, this is not a finding.

Review the IDPS configuration and settings to determine whether passwords contain the organization defined number of lower case characters.

If the IDPS does not force the password to have the organization defined number of lower case characters, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-38945r1_fix)
Configure the IDPS implementation to enforce password complexity by the number of lower case characters used.