Password security

Passwords control personal access to a variety of information: e-mail, server permissions, schedules, and even your own desktop. As security has become more of a prevalent issue on campus, protecting your password has become ever more important. There is even now a policy that passwords must be enforced, and must have at least a minimal level of complexity for security reasons. Here are some guidelines on how to change your password, and what kind of password you should be choosing.

• Your password should be meaningful enough for you, so you don't forget it.
• It should be a combination of: lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters such as the exclamation point(!) or the dollar sign ($). Many services require that you use at least one non-alphabetic character in your password; we recommend that you do so, even if the service does not require it.
• Your password shouldn't be the same as your name or your login name.
• It shouldn't be a dictionary word, place name, proper noun (including your pet's name, for example) or phone number.

As always, if you have any difficulty, please contact your LSCR consultant, and we can help you out. If you have forgotten your password, let us know and we'll direct you to the right office.