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1.18 CISC-ND-000600

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Information

The Cisco switch must be configured to enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one special character be used.

GROUP ID: V-220492
RULE ID: SV-220492r1026160

Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. 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, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

Multifactor authentication (MFA) is required for all administrative and user accounts on network devices, except for an account of last resort and (where applicable) a root account. Passwords should only be used when MFA using PKI is not available, and for the account of last resort and root account.

Solution

Configure the Cisco switch to enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one special character be used as shown in the example below:

SW1(config)# password strength-check

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/23773

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(1), CAT|II, CCI|CCI-001619, CCI|CCI-004066, Rule-ID|SV-220492r1026160_rule, STIG-ID|CISC-ND-000600, Vuln-ID|V-220492

Plugin: Cisco

Control ID: 6805d003aa0683221441341606aab00e575b215a8defdfe82656544ac59e4d05