Specops Password Policy wins Gold Award from TechGenix

TechGenix recently published a review on the latest version of Specops Password Policy. The review was written by Microsoft MVP Brien Posey, and the result was another Gold Award for the software.

The review noted that standard capabilities such as the ability to set the maximum password age, and the minimum password length, were welcome features. Brien was more impressed by the granular controls that Specops Password Policy offers. The more buzzworthy features were the ability to disallow consecutive characters in a user’s password, as well as preventing a user from using a digit as the last character of a password. These are just a small subset of the granular controls Specops Password Policy offers when it comes to guiding the end user to choose smarter, and more secure passwords.

Included in these controls that impressed are the dictionary and compromised password deny list capabilities of Specops Password Policy. The compromised password deny list feature, allows you to prevent users from selecting passwords that have been included in known leaks. The Dictionary feature provides the administrator with the ability to defend against dictionary attacks. These attacks entail a hacker using the words in a dictionary as potential passwords and running them in a program against the username or email that they have obtained.

With Specops Password Policy you can prevent your users from choosing passwords that are found in any dictionary. Specops provides at least half a dozen different dictionaries containing everything from common keyboard combinations, to passwords that are known to have been leaked. You can also build your own custom dictionary to block passwords relevant to your organization, including name, locations, services, any relevant acronyms, and even local sport teams. To prevent future user frustration, the password feedback feature shows users why their chosen password violates the dictionary rules.

Another eye-catching feature was the inclusion of freeware Specops Password Auditor. The tool is built in with the purchase of Specops Password Policy, and scans Active Directory to determine the health and compliance of the password policies enforced throughout your organization. It can point you to accounts with poor password requirements, misused administrator privileges, expired passwords, and more.

Check out the TechGenix review of Specops Password Policy for more on why they crowned Specops Password Policy with their Gold Award.