V-220489

Discussion

Use of a complex passwords 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 is, 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.

Check Content

Password complexity is enabled by default. Review the Cisco switch configuration to verify that it is compliant with this requirement. The following command should not be found in the configuration:

no password strength-check

If the Cisco switch is not configured to enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one uppercase character be used, this is a finding.