Darren Siegel

Articles written by Darren Siegel

• May

  27

  

  Scripting new user onboarding with First Day Password

  One common question we have received regarding Specops First Day Password is how to bulk enroll users. Many of the organizations or industries we work with, for example education, onboard several new users or employees at specific intervals. The good…

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• Mar

  23

  

  PowerShell scripts to force password change for all users after a security incident

  There's plenty to do in the aftermath of your organization suffering a security incident. Anything that can make your job quicker without compromised security is a bonus. After a confirmed or even suspected security breach, it's often advised to to…

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• Mar

  29

  

  Using Major League Baseball team names as passwords is a homerun for hackers

  The Cincinnati Reds, America’s oldest baseball team, may have one of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) worst pre-season odds to win the World Series, but the team sits alone in first place on Specops’ breached password list. This is according to…

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• Jul

  20

  

  How to manage Active Directory password requirements

  Password policies are a foundational element of any organization's security posture, especially in environments managed by Active Directory (AD). These policies help ensure that user credentials meet baseline complexity requirements, reducing the risk of unauthorized access. However, understanding and verifying…

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• Jul

  15

  

  How to extend Active Directory password expiration times

  Balancing security hygiene with user experience is an ever-evolving challenge. While traditional security wisdom has long mandated frequent password rotations, modern authentication frameworks (anchored by MFA, risk-based access, and continuous monitoring) have called those rigid schedules into question. In this…

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• Apr

  15

  

  How to configure Specops Password Notification

  In this blog post we will review some common configurations for Specops Password Notification. Password Notification is a tool for configuring and sending password expiration reminders to your users. This tool is especially useful for communicating with remote users who…

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• Feb

  12

  

  How to configure password expiration notifications

  In many organizations, password expiration notifications are not just a recommendation but a necessity to comply with internal policies or regulatory requirements. They help ensure that end users adhere to these rules, maintaining both personal and organizational security standards. Password…

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• Sep

  16

  

  How to enforce password complexity in O365?

  As organizations continue migrating data and services to the cloud, management and enforcement of strong password policies has never been more important. When it comes to Office 365 cloud-only users (not synchronized with a corresponding to an Active Directory account)…

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• Jul

  17

  

  Password length best practices

  When it comes to making strong passwords, the single most important factor is the length of the password. As long as a password isn’t easily guessable by other means (e.g. use of common words, username, repeating characters) length is your…

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• May

  24

  

  Finding users who have not changed their password recently

  One of the primary challenges with implementing a new password policy in Active Directory is ensuring users have changed their passwords to be compliant with that new policy. As we cannot view users’ current passwords in plain text to confirm…

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