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

Information

This policy setting manages whether or not Windows is allowed to use standby states when putting the computer in a sleep state.

The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled

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 configuration profiles, set the following Settings Catalog path to Disabled

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

Impact:

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

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/16853