What is Password Security?
Password Security is an important key that unlocks your digital identity and the services that you can use.
Why does it matter to me?
- Strong password prevents people from trying to guess or crack your password to gain accessto your accounts.
- Please do not share your IDs and passwords with others,
- you will be held responsible for actions that are committed by others using your ID and password.
- you won't know if your IDs and passwords would be shared outside of your circle of friends.
Is there a Policy that I need to be aware?
Per AUP Policy
5.4. Security is the responsibility of all members of the SMU community. Users must not store personal confidential information such as credit / debit card details or passwords on University IT Resources.
Per User Account Policy
5.13. User Responsibility. Apart from User Account Type 5.9, all other user account types, upon activation of a user account, the user has the responsibility to acknowledge and sign the AUP (for 1st time applicant). In addition, the user has to abide to the password construction and aging rules set by the University. For User Account Type 5.9, the staff that request for the account, has the responsibility to govern the actions of the external party and ensure they abide to the password construction and aging rules set by the University.
5.15. Protection of User Account Information. Under no circumstances should an account holder share or disclose his/her login and password to anyone else, including other individuals from the SMU community. The privilege of using the campus and network computing resources is not transferable to others (e.g. sharing passwords or giving someone else access to your account). Each account holder is responsible for any misuse of his/her account by others. If a user has 10 failed login attempts, the user account will be locked. To re-enable a user account after unsuccessful attempts, users can self help by following the steps published by IITS helpdesk or contact IITS helpdesk (with proper identification) to get the account unlocked during office hours.
Per SMU Network Policy
5.12 Passwords. Users are not to share passwords with anyone. IITS will not ask and no one, including IITS Technology Help Centre employees, is authorized to ask for a user’s password. All users are encouraged to use “strong” passwords. Strong passwords are those that use at least eight characters, includes a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols and is easy to remember, but difficult for others to guess.
5.19 Attempts to circumvent system security. Users must not attempt to undermine the security or integrity of the university network and must not attempt to gain unauthorized access (e.g. breaking into a system or using programs to obtain “root” access). Users must not attempt to “crack" or guess other users’ passwords or use any computer program or device to intercept or decode passwords or similar access-control information. Suspected security breaches or vulnerabilities should be reported immediately to IITS.
5.38 SMU students, faculty, staff, and contractors are responsible and accountable for their own login credential. They are strictly not allowed to provide or share their remote access login username and password with anyone even though with consent given by the account owner.
Useful Tips
One method of choosing a strong password
- Think of a phrase. Select the first letter of each word in the phrase
- Have both upper and lower case alphabets
- Some letters can be changed to numbers. Examples “5” for “S”, “7” for “L”, “3” for “E”, “0” (zero) for “O”
- Some letters can be changed to symbols. Examples “@” for “a”,”!” for “I” or “l”
Using the example: “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy cow”
- Think of a phrase. Select the first letter of each word in the phrase
The password will be Tqbfjotlc.
- Have both upper and lower case alphabets
We can capitalize the nouns. Hence the password will be TqbFjotlC.
- Some letters can be changed to numbers. Examples 5 for S, 7 for L, 3 for E, 0 (zero) for O
We can replace “6” for “b”, “0” for “o”. The password will be Tq6Fj0tlC.
- Some letters can be changed to symbols. Examples @for a,! for i or l
We can replace “!” for “l”. Hence the password will be Tq6Fj0t!C.
Related Activities
Videos
- How to Set Up a Strong and Memorable Password
- How to Choose Strong Passwords
Test Your Password
- Test your password at this site.
https://howsecureismypassword.net
If you try with the Tq6Fj0t!C password, the result is
Not that bad. However the password security can be improved by adding a few more letters. If you add “lol” in front, the password will be lolTq6Fj0t!C and is shown to be a good password.
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