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1.7 Ensure that a Custom Bad Password List is set to 'Enforce' for your Organization (Manual)​

Profile Applicability​

• 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 that are synced from an on-premise Active Directory unless Azure AD Connect is used 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 in the menu that opens, and then Security.
  3. Under Management select Authentication, then Password Protection.
  4. Set the Enforce custom list to Yes.
  5. 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