18.8.34.6.3 Ensure 'Allow standby states (S1-S3) when sleeping (on battery)' is set to 'Disabled'

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Information

Dictates whether or not Windows is allowed to use standby states when sleeping the computer.

The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled.

Rationale:

System sleep states (S1-S3) keep power to the RAM which may contain secrets, such as the BitLocker volume encryption key. An attacker finding a computer in sleep states (S1-S3) could directly attack the memory of the computer and gain access to the secrets through techniques such as RAM reminisce and direct memory access (DMA).

Impact:

None - this is the default behavior.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to Disabled:

Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\Power Management\Sleep Settings\Allow standby states (S1-S3) when sleeping (on battery)

Note: This Group Policy path may not exist by default. It is provided by the Group Policy template Power.admx/adml that is included with the Microsoft Windows 8.0 & Server 2012 (non-R2) Administrative Templates (or newer).

Default Value:

Disabled. (Users will not be able to use Sleep (S3) while on battery, which resumes faster than Hibernation (S4).)

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/2992