Account Use Policies help mitigate unauthorized access by configuring and enforcing rules that govern how and when accounts can be used. These policies include enforcing account lockout mechanisms, restricting login times, and setting inactivity timeouts. Proper configuration of these policies reduces the risk of brute-force attacks, credential theft, and unauthorized access by limiting the opportunities for malicious actors to exploit accounts. This mitigation can be implemented through the following measures:
Account Lockout Policies:
Login Time Restrictions:
Inactivity Timeout and Session Termination:
Password Aging Policies:
Account Expiration and Deactivation:
Tools for Implementation:
Domain | ID | Name | Use | |
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Enterprise | T1110 | Brute Force |
Set account lockout policies after a certain number of failed login attempts to prevent passwords from being guessed. Too strict a policy may create a denial of service condition and render environments un-usable, with all accounts used in the brute force being locked-out. Use conditional access policies to block logins from non-compliant devices or from outside defined organization IP ranges.[1] Consider blocking risky authentication requests, such as those originating from anonymizing services/proxies.[2] |
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.001 | Password Guessing |
Set account lockout policies after a certain number of failed login attempts to prevent passwords from being guessed. Too strict a policy may create a denial of service condition and render environments un-usable, with all accounts used in the brute force being locked-out. Use conditional access policies to block logins from non-compliant devices or from outside defined organization IP ranges.[1] Consider blocking risky authentication requests, such as those originating from anonymizing services/proxies.[2] |
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.003 | Password Spraying |
Set account lockout policies after a certain number of failed login attempts to prevent passwords from being guessed. Too strict a policy may create a denial of service condition and render environments un-usable, with all accounts used in the brute force being locked-out. Use conditional access policies to block logins from non-compliant devices or from outside defined organization IP ranges.[1] Consider blocking risky authentication requests, such as those originating from anonymizing services/proxies.[2] |
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.004 | Credential Stuffing |
Set account lockout policies after a certain number of failed login attempts to prevent passwords from being guessed. Too strict a policy may create a denial of service condition and render environments un-usable, with all accounts used in the brute force being locked-out. Use conditional access policies to block logins from non-compliant devices or from outside defined organization IP ranges.[1] Consider blocking risky authentication requests, such as those originating from anonymizing services/proxies.[2] |
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Enterprise | T1621 | Multi-Factor Authentication Request Generation |
Enable account restrictions to prevent login attempts, and the subsequent 2FA/MFA service requests, from being initiated from suspicious locations or when the source of the login attempts do not match the location of the 2FA/MFA smart device. Use conditional access policies to block logins from non-compliant devices or from outside defined organization IP ranges.[1] |
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Enterprise | T1648 | Serverless Execution |
Where possible, consider restricting access to and use of serverless functions. For examples, conditional access policies can be applied to users attempting to create workflows in Microsoft Power Automate. Google Apps Scripts that use OAuth can be limited by restricting access to high-risk OAuth scopes.[3][4] |
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Enterprise | T1550 | Use Alternate Authentication Material |
Where possible, consider restricting the use of authentication material outside of expected contexts. |
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.001 | Application Access Token |
Where possible, consider restricting the use of access tokens outside of expected contexts. For example, in AWS environments, consider using data perimeters to prevent credential use outside of an expected network.[5] |
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Enterprise | T1078 | Valid Accounts |
Use conditional access policies to block logins from non-compliant devices or from outside defined organization IP ranges.[1] |
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.004 | Cloud Accounts |
Use conditional access policies to block logins from non-compliant devices or from outside defined organization IP ranges.[1] |