Question:
What are the requirements for Cambrian College Passwords?
Answer:
Usernames and passwords assigned to individuals to access information are critical in the protection of both your privacy and Cambrian College IT resources. Usernames and passwords are for the use of the individual for whom they were granted, and should be known only to that individual.
The guidelines below have been enacted to better secure the Cambrian Network and the information contained therein. It is an increased burden but it will also make an exponential difference in password security on campus. Even if you do not access or maintain confidential data, your system access can be compromised to gain access to confidential data. Everyone plays a role in Cambrian’s information security. We must all do our best to prevent potential data breaches or malicious attacks.
Details:
1.What are our Cambrian Network password requirements?
- Must be a minimum of eight (8) characters in length.
- Will expire 180 days after each change.
- Are case-sensitive (e.g. CAmBr1aN! is different than cambr1an!).
- May not contain any part of your name or username.
- May not use single words found in the dictionary.
- May not contain spaces.
- May not match any of your previous ten Cambrian Network passwords.
- Must contain three (3) or more of the following:
- At least one upper-case alphabetic character.
- At least one lower-case alphabetic character.
- At least one numeric digit (e.g. 1, 2, 3…)
- At least one symbol character (e.g. ^, $, #)
2.How do I protect my password and the sensitive information accessible via my Network Account?
- Don't reveal passwords over the phone to anyone.
- Don't reveal passwords in an email message.
- Don't talk about passwords in front of others.
- Don't share passwords with anyone, including family members.
- Don't reveal passwords to co-workers while on vacation or leave.
- Don't use the "remember password" feature of applications.
- Don't write passwords down and store them anywhere in your office.
- Don't use the same password for Cambrian Network accounts as for other non-Cambrian Accounts (e.g. Facebook, Hotmail etc.).
- Change your password frequently and always whenever you have reason to believe it has been compromised.
3.How do I create a strong password that is easy to remember?
Mix in three or more random words with numbers and special characters:
For example, Horse Battery Staple becomes…
H0rseb@ttery$tapLe
A password of this length and complexity would take over a quadrillion years to crack!
4.What are examples of passwords should I avoid?
The majority of examples below are built into trivial hacking tools and can be easily exploited.
- Any iteration of the word “password" (e.g. PAssW0rd, paSSword!, P@SsWoRd etc.)
- Names of family, pets, friends, co-workers, fantasy characters, etc.
- A word in any language, slang, dialect, jargon, etc.
- Computer terms and names, commands, sites, companies, hardware, software, etc.
- Personal information such as birthdays, addresses, phone numbers, etc.
- Words or number patterns like aaabbb, qwerty, zyxwvuts, 123321, etc.
- Any of the above spelled backwards.
- Any of the above preceded or followed by a digit (e.g. secret1, 1secret).