I've been digging into how Windows handles cached credentials, and I'm curious if it keeps track of failed login attempts as well. Specifically, if someone repeatedly tries to log in (like 10+ times) on a device that's offline, will this trigger a wipe of saved Active Directory credentials? I'm particularly worried about situations like a work laptop being stolen and someone trying to brute force access.
4 Answers
Nope, Windows doesn't cache failed logins. It only stores successful logins, so you won't have to worry about that. If the thief gets hold of your laptop, they won't benefit from any saved credentials from failed attempts.
Unplugging the network and repeatedly hitting Enter won't affect credential storage. My main concern would be hash extraction and cracking, especially if BitLocker isn’t enabled to protect those hashes.
Just a heads up, using BitLocker is crucial. It stops someone from using a boot disk to dump the hashes. Always a good practice, especially for portable devices.
If you're considering security, it might be better to implement a local lockout policy through Group Policy Objects (GPO). Without it, someone could keep trying passwords on the local domain account until they succeed.
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