Password Auditing Tools

A goal of computer system security is to prevent an attack, and authentication mechanisms can prevent a compromise on parts of a system. Most if not all forms of access are granted based on a single authentication scheme, and passwords are currently the most widely used authentication mechanism. Weak passwords have been cited by experts from industry, government, and academia as one of the most critical security threats to computer networks. However, various applications are available today which allow system administrators to assess the strength of their passwords in order to take the necessary precautions. The purpose of this report is to conduct a study of how well some of the more popular password auditing applications perform for Windows and UNIX operating systems.