Passwords can be the weakest link in a computer security scheme. Strong passwords are important because password cracking tools continue to improve and the computers used to crack passwords are more powerful than ever. Network passwords that once took weeks to crack can now be cracked in hours.

Password cracking software uses one of three approaches: intelligent guessing, dictionary attacks, and automation that tries every possible combination of characters. Given enough time, the automated method can crack any password. However, it still can take months to crack a strong password.

The current Active Directory Password Policy is as follows:

- Passwords expire every 42 days

- the system keeps a Password history of 24 (you cannot reuse a password that you used up to 24 times ago)

- Passwords must be 7 characters or more

- Passwords must contain at least one character from each of the following groups:

1) Uppercase Letters - A, B, C ... X, Y, Z

2) Lowercase Letters - a, b, c ... x, y, z

3) Numerals - 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

4) Symbols - ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + - = { } | [ ] \ : " ; ' < > ? , . /