Weak passwords continue to be a leading cause of cybersecurity incidents. According to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report, over 80% of breaches involve brute-force attacks or stolen credentials, often targeting Active Directory environments.

Even organizations with MFA in place are still at risk. If users are creating weak or reused passwords, and those credentials are never audited, attackers can walk right in using the front door.

So, how can you tell if your AD password policies are actually working?

Password policies can look strong on paper, but that does not mean they hold up in practice. Use this checklist to evaluate your real-world security posture. Then, count your answers to see where you stand.

✅ Question

☐ Do you audit user passwords against known breach corpora like RockYou, HaveIBeenPwned, or custom threat intelligence feeds?

☐ Are you actively identifying weak, guessable, or default credentials (e.g., “Welcome123”, “Spring2025!”) within AD?

☐ Do you measure actual password strength, not just enforce character complexity rules?

☐ Is password reuse monitored across user and service accounts to prevent repetition and lateral movement?

☐ Are repeat offenders tracked and remediated, including employees with a history of weak password behavior?

☐ Are local admin, service, and application accounts included in password audits, not just end-user accounts?

☐ Is MFA consistently enforced across all endpoints, including VPN, legacy systems, and privileged accounts?

☐ Do you run periodic password cracking assessments to simulate attacker behavior and update controls accordingly?

☐ Is there executive visibility into password hygiene risks, via tailored reporting or dashboards?

☐ Do you have a formal remediation plan for weak or cracked credentials, including user communication and policy improvement?

Scoring Your Risk:

Even strong security policies can fall short when it comes to real-world password behavior. Users bypass complexity rules. Shared credentials linger for years. MFA is inconsistently applied. These gaps are rarely obvious until it’s too late.

That’s where Depth Security comes in. Our Active Directory Password Security Analysis goes beyond surface-level checks, using attacker-informed methods to expose real password vulnerabilities across your environment.

What You’ll Get

• Comprehensive Password Audit: We analyze password hashes directly from Active Directory and test them using real-world cracking techniques.
• Identification of Crackable Passwords: Using dedicated cracking hardware and optimized dictionaries, we identify passwords that fall below acceptable security thresholds.
• Risk-Based Reporting: Receive in-depth reporting on cracked accounts, repeat offenders, password reuse trends, and service account risks.
• Executive Summaries: Custom reporting for technical teams, CISOs, and business leadership tailored to their concerns and decision-making roles.
• Custom Wordlists & Dictionaries: We use organization-specific terms, industry context, and internal naming conventions to simulate real-world guessing tactics.
• Remediation Roadmap: You’ll receive prioritized recommendations to close password-related gaps and reduce future risk.