18.8.34.6.3 Ensure 'Allow standby states (S1-S3) when sleeping (on battery)' is set to 'Disabled'

Information

Dictates whether or not Windows is allowed to use standby states when sleeping the computer.

The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled.

Rationale:

System sleep states (S1-S3) keep power to the RAM which may contain secrets, such as the BitLocker volume encryption key. An attacker finding a computer in sleep states (S1-S3) could directly attack the memory of the computer and gain access to the secrets through techniques such as RAM reminisce and direct memory access (DMA).

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to Disabled:

Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\Power Management\Sleep Settings\Allow standby states (S1-S3) when sleeping (on battery)

Note: This Group Policy path may not exist by default. It is provided by the Group Policy template Power.admx/adml that is included with the Microsoft Windows 8.0 & Server 2012 (non-R2) Administrative Templates (or newer).

Impact:

None - this is the default behavior.

Default Value:

Disabled. (Users will not be able to use Sleep (S3) while on battery, which resumes faster than Hibernation (S4).)

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/2646