Case Study: East Ayrshire Council strengthens password security with Specops Password Policy

East Ayrshire Council blocks weak passwords

East Ayrshire Council, a government organization in Scotland, needed to address weak password use among its 6,000 employees after an annual audit found common and easily guessed passwords such as “Password1” and “Summer17.” The council wanted to enforce stronger passwords, use a customized banned-password dictionary, and avoid encouraging password reuse while still preserving a good user experience, so it turned to Specops Password Policy from Specops.

Specops implemented a custom password policy that blocked common and incremental passwords, supported passphrases, and allowed different rules for different job roles. The rollout was completed over eight weeks, starting with IT staff and then extending to all users, with endpoint messaging and user communication helping drive adoption. As a result, East Ayrshire Council achieved stronger, more tailored password policies with only a couple of helpdesk calls, while improving awareness of password security and planning further security enhancements with Specops.

East Ayrshire Council

Ian Aston

ICT Security Manager