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NIST Special Publication 800-63 says that "strong" password requirements are not only useless but counterproductive. They recommend only a minimum length requirement and a small blacklist of common...
Answer
#1: Initial revision
by
Kevin Krumwiede
·
2024-01-07T18:43:35Z (10 months ago)
[NIST Special Publication 800-63](https://pages.nist.gov/800-63-4/sp800-63b/secrets/) says that "strong" password requirements are not only useless but counterproductive. They recommend only a minimum length requirement and a small blacklist of common passwords. >Length and complexity requirements beyond those recommended here significantly increase the difficulty of memorized secrets and increase user frustration. As a result, users often work around these restrictions in a way that is counterproductive. Furthermore, other mitigations such as blocklists, secure hashed storage, and rate limiting are more effective at preventing modern brute-force attacks. Therefore, no additional complexity requirements are imposed. This has been NIST's recommendation for at least the several years that I've been paying attention. It's painful to watch naive companies hiring naive developers pushing outdated practices like "strong" passwords and even "security questions" (encountered yesterday on an Arizona government site!)