Choosing and Securing Strong Passwords

Weak passwords and passwords that are purposely or inadvertently shared with others are the primary route for defeating security of information systems.  Weak passwords and shared passwords compromise not only the integrity and privacy of your stored information, but also the information of others stored on the same systems.

Your Mileage May Vary

Different computer systems have different rules for how you may construct a password, what characters you may use, and the minimum and maximum length. The following are general guidelines that you should try to apply within the context of the rules of the particular computer system you are using.

No Personal Information

Do not use any variation of your name, family names or other personal information such as birthdays, phone numbers, license numbers or SSN as a password.  These are too easy for others to look up or guess.

No Dictionary Words

Do not use any word found in a dictionary of any language.

Length

Your password should be at least eight characters in length.

Mixed Case Letters, Numbers, and Symbols

Do not use all the same letter or number (e.g., AAAAAA or 111111), all numbers, or common sequences (e.g., ABCDEF, QWERTY, 12345 or 54321).

It is better to use mixed case passwords instead of all lower or all upper case. Include some numeric digits (i.e., 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) and symbols (e.g., . ! @ # $ % & * + [ = ; > ?) as well as letters. Be cautioned, however, that appending a single digit or punctuation character to the end of an otherwise weak password does not strengthen it significantly. Also, you may not use \ or / as these symbols are not allowed by our password policy.

Use a Memorable Phrase

Creating a password from the initial letters of a memorable phrase or jingle is hard to generate but easy to remember.  The initial letters of six to eight words from a phrase or jingle that you can remember with a digit thrown in make a great password. For instance, "To be or not to be" might be used to remember "Tb0nTb" where a zero is used for "or". 

For Your Eyes Only

Do not write your password down or share it with others – not even the folks at the help desk.