Topic:  ESPC Password Policy Update

 

Date/Time Issued:  July 13th, 2026 1514Z

 

Date/Time of Initial Impact: July 20th, 2026 1400Z


Date/Time of Expected End: Indefinite

 

Length of Event: Indefinite

 

Details/Specifics: Due to a security mandate, the minimum password length requirement for all external Active Directory user accounts will be increased to 15 characters, which will be enforced via Group Policy. Once implemented, the new minimum length requirement will not take effect until a user's existing password expires. All existing user account passwords will remain unaffected during this change. 


We plan to enable this policy setting on Monday, July 20th, 2026.  Any password set after that date must adhere to the new minimum password length requirement.    

Additionally, any user account using auto-rotated passwords will need to update its credentials manager in order to align with the new password length requirement. To that effect, it's recommended to update your password rotators before 7/20/2026 to avoid encountering any compliance issues related to the new password length requirement.

Also - as a gentle reminder, below are the current password complexity requirements in place for all accounts. NOTE: Password complexity and length requirements are assessed whenever a user changes their password. These parameters will remain unchanged following the upcoming change to policy.
  • Not contain the user's account name or parts of the user's full name that exceed two consecutive characters
  • Contain characters from three of the following four categories:
    • English uppercase characters (A through Z)
    • English lowercase characters (a through z)
    • Base 10 digits (0 through 9)
    • Non-alphabetic characters (for example, !, $, #, %)
If you have any questions or concerns prior to the upcoming policy update, please feel free to contact the ESPC Operations Systems Admin Team [espc.ops.adm@noaa.gov].

 

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