A security administrator must implement all requirements in the following corporate policy: Passwords shall be
protected against offline password brute force attacks. Passwords shall be protected against online password
brute force attacks. Which of the following technical controls must be implemented to enforce the corporate
policy? (Choose three.)
A.
Account lockout
B.
Account expiration
C.
Screen locks
D.
Password complexity
E.
Minimum password lifetime
F.
Minimum password length
Explanation:
A brute force attack is a trial-and-error method used to obtain information such as a user password or personal
identification number (PIN). In a brute force attack, automated software is used to generate a large number of
consecutive guesses as to the value of the desired data. Brute force attacks may be used by criminals to crack
encrypted data, or by security analysts to test an organization’s network security.
A brute force attack may also be referred to as brute force cracking.
For example, a form of brute force attack known as a dictionary attack might try all the words in a dictionary.
Other forms of brute force attack might try commonly-used passwords or combinations of letters and numbers.
The best defense against brute force attacks strong passwords. The following password policies will ensure
that users have strong (difficult to guess) passwords:
F: Minimum password length. This policy specifies the minimum number of characters a password should
have. For example: a minimum password length of 8 characters is regarded as good security practice.
D: Password complexity determines what characters a password should include. For example, you could
require a password to contain uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers. This will ensure that passwords
don’t consist of dictionary words which are easy to crack using brute force techniques.
A: Account lockout policy: This policy ensures that a user account is locked after a number of incorrect
password entries. For example, you could specify that if a wrong password is entered three times, the account
will be locked for a period of time or indefinitely until the account is unlocked by an administrator.