In the Windows/AD world, this is not true. AD will never store a current or previous password in clear-text. AD will, however, compare the password hashes bef

In the Windows/AD world, this is not true. AD will never store a current or previous password in clear-text. AD will, however, compare the password hashes before it will accept the new password when this type of setting is enabled. EDITed to add: There's some logic to detect how close a new password is to an old one. Mainly, it's looking for consistencies between the 2.