Question

Difficulty: EasyPassword Security Policies, MFA, and Certificates

A network administrator is establishing password security policies on network devices to protect administrative logins from brute-force attacks. Which security policy control directly ensures that users choose strong passwords that resist dictionary attacks?

  1. Configuring minimum length and character complexity rulesAnswer
  2. B
    Encrypting the entire authentication payload using RADIUS
  3. C
    Enabling sticky MAC address learning on switch access ports
  4. D
    Relying on the default implicit deny clause in access control lists

Answer

Configuring minimum length and character complexity rules directly ensures users create resilient credentials that resist dictionary and brute-force guessing attacks.
Configuring minimum length and character complexity rules is the standard control for enforcing password strength. Requiring longer passwords containing a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols significantly increases entropy and mitigates dictionary or brute-force guessing attacks.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the goal of the password security policy
The requirement is to prevent users from creating weak, easily guessed, or dictionary-vulnerable passwords.
Security policies dictate password composition rules prior to account creation or updates.
2
Evaluate the effect of password complexity and length enforcement
Requiring a combination of character types (uppercase, lowercase, numbers, symbols) along with sufficient length exponentially increases entropy.
Higher entropy prevents automated dictionary attacks from quickly discovering valid passwords.

Key Concept

Password Security Policies and Complexity Rules
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