Microsoft® Windows® Security: Essentials

Using Passwords for Authentication

Passwords are the most common form of authentication. However, they’re also the weakest form and the most susceptible to compromise. It’s important to understand what a strong password is and how to create one. Additionally, it’s valuable to know how strong passwords can be enforced within a Microsoft environment. This section identifies many of the weaknesses of passwords and how they can be strengthened.

Comparing Password Attack Methods

Attackers recognize that passwords are among the weakest form of authentication and use a variety of methods to discover them. If they can discover the password for a user, they can access the user’s account and impersonate the user.

Within a Microsoft domain, an attacker ...