Detections
Analytics

5.2.3.2 (L1) Ensure custom banned passwords lists are used

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Information

With Entra Password Protection, default global banned password lists are automatically applied to all users in an Entra ID tenant. To support business and security needs, custom banned password lists can be defined. When users change or reset their passwords, these banned password lists are checked to enforce the use of strong passwords.

A custom banned password list should include some of the following examples:

 - Brand names
 - Product names
 - Locations, such as company headquarters
 - Company-specific internal terms
 - Abbreviations that have specific company meaning

Creating a new password can be difficult regardless of one's technical background. It is common to look around one's environment for suggestions when building a password, however, this may include picking words specific to the organization as inspiration for a password. An adversary may employ what is called a 'mangler' to create permutations of these specific words in an attempt to crack passwords or hashes making it easier to reach their goal.

Solution

To remediate using the UI:

 - Navigate to Microsoft Entra admin center https://entra.microsoft.com/
 - Click to expand Entra ID > Authentication methods.
 - Select Password protection
 - Set Enforce custom list to Yes
 - In Custom banned password list create a list using suggestions outlined in this document.
 - Click Save

Note: Below is a list of examples that can be used as a starting place. The references section contains more suggestions.

 - Brand names
 - Product names
 - Locations, such as company headquarters
 - Company-specific internal terms
 - Abbreviations that have specific company meaning

Impact:

If a custom banned password list includes too many common dictionary words, or short words that are part of compound words, then perfectly secure passwords may be blocked. The organization should consider a balance between security and usability when creating a list.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/22162

Item Details

Plugin: microsoft_azure

Control ID: 370faf742f4c5a1900671df412821f0d8c8abe8eaf5ce1b9c4d9166b27ca4dbe