5.2.3 Ensure Complex Password Must Contain Alphabetic Characters Is Configured

Information

Complex passwords contain one character from each of the following classes: English uppercase letters, English lowercase letters, Westernized Arabic numerals, and non-alphanumeric characters.

Ensure that an Alphabetic character is part of the password policy on the computer

Rationale:

The more complex a password the more resistant it will be against persons seeking unauthorized access to a system.

Impact:

Password policy should be in effect to reduce the risk of exposed services being compromised easily through dictionary attacks or other social engineering attempts.

Solution

Perform the following to enable passwords to require at least 1 alphabetical characters:
Terminal Method:
Run the following command to set the that passwords must contain at least one letter:

$ sudo /usr/bin/pwpolicy -n /Local/Default -setglobalpolicy -setaccountpolicies 'requiresAlpha=<value<=5>'

example:

$ sudo /usr/bin/pwpolicy -n /Local/Default -setglobalpolicy 'requiresAlpha=1'

Profile Method:

Create or edit a configuration profile with the PayLoadType of com.apple.mobiledevice.passwordpolicy

Add the key requireAlphanumeric

Set the key to <integer><value>=1></integer>

Note: This profile requires both an alphabetical and numeric characters.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/3644