The Evolution of Password Policy
Password policies have evolved dramatically over the past decade. What was once considered "best practice"—forcing complexity and regular rotation—is now known to weaken security. Understanding this evolution helps organizations implement policies that actually work.
The Problem with Complexity Rules
When users are forced to include uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols, they don't create random passwords. Instead, they find the most memorable way to satisfy the rules: capitalize the first letter, add a number at the end, append a symbol. The result is predictable patterns like Password1! that appear in every password cracking dictionary.
Research by Microsoft and NIST found that complexity requirements actually reduce password diversity. When everyone follows the same formula (Word + Number + Symbol), attackers only need to test that pattern. Our pattern analyzer reveals these weaknesses.
Why Forced Rotation Fails
90-day password rotation seemed logical: if a password is compromised, limiting its lifespan limits damage. But NIST research revealed the opposite effect. Users faced with constant changes resort to incremental modifications: Spring2024 becomes Summer2024 becomes Fall2024. Attackers exploit these patterns easily.
Modern Policy Recommendations
Today's evidence-based approach focuses on what actually improves security: length over complexity, checking against breach databases, supporting password managers, and requiring 2FA where possible. A 20-character passphrase of random words is both more secure and more usable than an 8-character complex password.