Introduction
Passwords remain one of the most common attack vectors in today's threat landscape, making strong password policies a critical component of identity security. Microsoft Entra ID provides built-in password protection capabilities that help organizations defend against brute-force attacks, password spraying, and the use of weak or commonly compromised passwords.
In this hands-on guide, I'll walk through configuring essential password protection settings in Microsoft Entra ID, including custom smart lockout policies, banned password lists, and enforcement options. These configurations help strengthen authentication security while improving the overall resilience of your organization's identity infrastructure.
Exercise - Perform basic Password Protection tasks
In this exercise you will explore the capabilities Microsoft Entra ID offers in protecting your password. You will see how you can automate and enforce a strong password, and use login restrictions to prevent password attacks.
This exercise should take approximately 5 minutes to complete.
Task 1 - View lock settings, and review duration and threshold values
1.Open the Microsoft Entra admin center at https://entra.microsoft.com.
2.Log in using the credentials for your tenant.
3.From the menu on the left, select Authentication methods submenu.
Note - You could also search on Password protection in the search bar at the top.
4.Select Password protection from the list.
5.Set the Custom smart lockout with the following values.
| Field | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Lockout threshold | 5 | How many times can you fail to login with a password before your account locks. |
| Lockout duration | 30 | How many second the account should lock when the threshold is reached. |
Note - You can also configure a custom banned password list here.
6.Set Enforce custom list to Yes.
7.Enter the following values:
-Contoso
-London
-Widget
Lab Tip - Your lab is being performed for a company called Contoso, located in London, and it makes Widgets. By enter these three words you block them from being part or a whole of a password.
8.Set the value for Mode to Enforced.
9.Select the Save item at the top of the screen.
Summary
In this article, I demonstrated how to configure password protection in Microsoft Entra ID by reviewing smart lockout settings, defining lockout thresholds and durations, creating a custom banned password list, and enforcing password protection policies. These security measures help reduce the risk of unauthorized access by preventing weak passwords and limiting password-based attacks, making them an essential part of any modern identity security strategy.
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