SSMC must enforce a minimum 15-character password length.

The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.

To verify that the 15-character minimum password length policy is set, do the following: 1. Log on to SSMC appliance as ssmcadmin. Press "X" to escape to shell. 2. Execute the following command: $ sudo /ssmc/bin/config_security.sh -o long_password_policy -a status Long password policy is enabled If the status does not read "enabled", this is a finding.

To enable and enforce the 15-character minimum password length policy, do the following: 1. Log on to SSMC appliance as ssmcadmin. Press "X" to escape to general bash shell. 2. Execute the following command: $ sudo /ssmc/bin/config_security.sh -o long_password_policy -a enable -f Note: ssmcaudit user should be disabled before executing this fix procedure.