STIG ID: WN11-AC-000040 | SRG: SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037 | Severity: medium | CCI: | Vulnerability Id: V-253304
The use of complex passwords increases their strength against guessing and brute-force attacks. This setting configures the system to verify that newly created passwords conform to the Windows password complexity policy.
Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Account Policies >> Password Policy >> "Password must meet complexity requirements" to "Enabled".
Verify the effective setting in Local Group Policy Editor.
Run "gpedit.msc".
Navigate to Local Computer Policy >> Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Account Policies >> Password Policy.
If the value for "Password must meet complexity requirements" is not set to "Enabled", this is a finding.
If the site is using a password filter that requires this setting be set to "Disabled" for the filter to be used, this would not be considered a finding.