Password policy on macOS

 There are several ways to enforce password policies on a Mac to ensure that users apply strong passwords that meet the required security standards. Here are some steps you can take:

Enable the password policy: Open the "Terminal" application and run the following command:

sudo pwpolicy -setglobalpolicy "policyAttribute=required"

This will enable the password policy on the Mac.

Set the password policy requirements: Run the following command to set the password policy requirements:

sudo pwpolicy -u <username> -setpolicy "newPasswordRequired=1"

Replace <username> with the actual username of the user account you want to set the password policy for. This command will require the user to create a new password that meets the password policy requirements.

Define the password policy requirements: You can define the specific password policy requirements by running the following command:

sudo pwpolicy -u <username> -setpolicy "minChars=8"

Replace <username> with the actual username of the user account you want to set the password policy for. The minChars option specifies the minimum number of characters required for the password. You can also set other options such as maxChars, minDigits, minLetters, minUppercase, minLowercase, minSpecialChars, and history.

Disable the ability to change password: If you want to prevent users from changing their passwords, you can run the following command:

sudo dscl . -passwd /Users/<username> -policy "isDisabled=1"

Replace <username> with the actual username of the user account you want to set the policy for. This will disable the ability to change the password for that user account.

Note that enforcing password policies on a Mac may require administrative privileges. You should also inform your users about the password policy requirements and educate them about creating strong passwords to enhance the overall security of the system.

This setting may be enforced using local policy or by a directory service.

To set local policy to require at least 1 lowercase letter, edit the current password policy to contain the following <dict> within the "policyCategoryPasswordContent":

[source,xml]

----

<dict>

<key>policyContent</key>

<string>policyAttributePassword matches &apos;(.*[A-Z].*){1,}+&apos;</string>

<key>policyIdentifier</key>

<string>Must have at least 1 uppercase letter</string>

<key>policyParameters</key>

<dict>

<key>minimumAlphaCharactersUpperCase</key>

<integer>1</integer>

</dict>

</dict>

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After saving the file and exiting to the command prompt, run the following command to load the new policy file, substituting the path to the file in place of "$pwpolicy_file".

[source,bash]

----

/usr/bin/pwpolicy setaccountpolicies $pwpolicy_file

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NOTE: See the password policy supplemental on more information on how to implement password policies on macOS.