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How secure are YOUR passwords?
Your passwords are only as secure as you
make them. Think for a moment about the types of information your
passwords are protecting. Anyone who can guess your passwords can
access your information or pose as you, and you can be held responsible
for anything they might do. How secure are your passwords?
– Ask yourself:
- Do my passwords have at least 7 characters?
- Are they easy to guess?
- Do my passwords contain all lower case letters?
- Have I used any of the following as a password:
login name, birthday, phone number, social security number (or
part of it), or someone’s name?
- Have I ever shared a password with others?
- If someone else learned my password, did I change
it?
- When was the last time I changed my passwords?
Here are some simple password
rules to follow:
- DO use at least 7 characters in a password;
8 characters would be even better.
- DO use both upper and lower case, with alphanumeric
and special characters.
- DO use a password that is easy for you to remember,
but hard for someone else to guess.
- DO use a password that you can type quickly, without
having to look at the keyboard. Also try to make it difficult
for someone to follow if they are watching you type.
- DO change your passwords frequently – a
good rule of thumb is to change them at least every six months.
Passwords to sensitive information should be changed more often.
- DO change passwords or remove access to systems
that departing employees have used.
- DON’T give your passwords to ANYONE. If
others need access, they should obtain their own passwords.
- DON’T write passwords down. This is as good
as giving them to anyone who finds them. If you need to write
a password down until you can remember it, keep it in a safe place
– and then shred it after you have memorized it.
- DON’T use a name, login name, date, phone
number, address, social security number, or any of the sample
passwords given below. Also, NEVER use the word “password”!
- DON’T put a space in your password. Spaces
and some special characters may not work in some systems.
- DON’T use the same password for everything.
While it is sometimes OK to use the same password for multiple
systems, choose unique passwords to protect sensitive information.
- DON’T save your password in e-mail clients
or other programs, such as online services. While this may be
OK for less sensitive uses, it generally is not a good idea. It
can be relatively easy for others to obtain passwords from inside
these programs. Some viruses can also access and distribute passwords.
If you have forgotten a password or need help
changing a password for a Fort Hays State University system,
contact the CTC HelpDesk
for assistance.
Tips for choosing good passwords:
- Choose a line from a song or a phrase that
you can remember. Then create a password with at least 8 characters,
using upper and lowercase letters and numbers to represent each
word. For example: “You eat ice cream for desert”
could be: uEtiC4dT
- Use a keystroke sequence that is easy to remember,
but not easy to guess or follow, with numbers or symbols and alternating
case, such as: {pO9SdE3 (Try it!)
- Be creative. Intentionally “twist”
or misspell a word, substituting numbers or special characters.
For example, “information” could be transformed into:
ouT4mA$huN
Use this site to “rate” how secure your
password is. We suggest entering a password that is similar
to your password (don’t enter your actual password).
SecurityStats.Com
Password Strength Meter
Sources:
The following sources were used for this article and are recommended
if you wish to learn more about how to choose good passwords:
Australian Computer Emergency Response Team:
http://www.auscert.org.au/render.html?it=2260
Geodsoft.com: http://geodsoft.com/howto/password/
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: http://www.mit.edu/afs/sipb/project/doc/passwords/passwords.html
National Institutes of Health: http://www.alw.nih.gov/Security/Docs/passwd.html
SecurityStats.Com: http://www.securitystats.com/tools/password.php
University of Chicago: http://security.uchicago.edu/docs/userpassword.shtml
University of Maryland: http://www.cs.umd.edu/faq/Passwords.shtml
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