What is the term for a policy that requires passwords to be changed after a set period?

What is the term for a policy that requires passwords to be changed after a set period?

• A. Password history
• B. Password expiration
• C. Password reuse across sites
• D. Password managers

Answer: (B)

Enforcing password lifetimes is about requiring users to change their password after a defined period. The term for this policy is password expiration. It limits how long a stolen or guessed password could be used by mandating a new credential after, say, 60, 90, or 180 days. This helps reduce the risk from long-term exposure and keeps accounts from remaining vulnerable if credentials are compromised. To make sense of how it fits with related ideas: password history is the rule that prevents reusing recent passwords, which works alongside expiration to ensure users don’t revert to an old password after it expires. Password reuse across sites isn’t a formal policy term describing a change schedule; it’s a risk of using the same password in multiple places. Password managers are tools to store and generate strong passwords, not policy requirements about changing them. So, the requirement to change passwords after a set period is best described as password expiration.

Enforcing password lifetimes is about requiring users to change their password after a defined period. The term for this policy is password expiration. It limits how long a stolen or guessed password could be used by mandating a new credential after, say, 60, 90, or 180 days. This helps reduce the risk from long-term exposure and keeps accounts from remaining vulnerable if credentials are compromised.

To make sense of how it fits with related ideas: password history is the rule that prevents reusing recent passwords, which works alongside expiration to ensure users don’t revert to an old password after it expires. Password reuse across sites isn’t a formal policy term describing a change schedule; it’s a risk of using the same password in multiple places. Password managers are tools to store and generate strong passwords, not policy requirements about changing them.

So, the requirement to change passwords after a set period is best described as password expiration.