Password Security for Students
Passwords need to be complex enough to discourage guessing but easy enough for you
to remember. As computer processors become faster and faster the hackers are taking
advantage of better password cracking systems which means we have to shift the way
we generate passwords.
It is best to start using 16-20 character password or, better yet, a passphrase to
prevent someone from easily guessing it. Really good passphrases should contain a
number of character types, letters, numbers, and special characters. Keep them creative
and unique to yourself. A passphrase combined with your own "Rules" for substitutions
and character insertion makes them easier for you to remember but much harder for
anyone or any computer to guess.
Here are a couple of passphrase generation ideas. If you really like cookies, use
Snickerdoodles, Coconut Macaroons, Gingerbread or Vanillekipferl as a base. Use a
special character as a space. Substitute letters with numbers that look the same.
Substitute "o" with the digit zero, "L" with the digit one, "S" with the digit five,
etc. Make a phrase out of it, and mix in special characters. "Snick3Rd00dle$#r#good鈥.
Mix up your schemes, one year use Cookies, then next year Baseball teams, wood working
tools, maybe Civil War Generals. The advantage of better passphrases is that you can
use them longer before having to change them.
Password Quick Tips:
- Make sure your password is complex and longer than 12 characters. Short and simple passwords are easily figured out by hackers.
- Use a variety of characters such as upper case, lower case, numbers and symbols.
- Don鈥檛 write down your passwords (keep them in your head or in an encrypted file).
- Don鈥檛 share your password with anybody for any reason, not even with the TSC.
Creating and Remembering Your Password
Creating and remembering strong password can sometimes be challenging. Below are several methods that can help you create and remember strong passwords.
- Use the first characters of a sentence you can easily remember and add some special characters. My son Al is 3 years old in November converts to MsAi$3yoiN0V or I go on Vacation13 May would be IgoV!!@13M.
- Use numbers in a word, for example a 5 instead of an s and a 3 instead of an e. partn3r5.
- Substituting special characters for letters for example I go on Vacation13 May could be Igo#13M.
Is your password weak?
The following are some examples of practices and behaviors that can result in weak or bad passwords. Under no circumstances should individuals use passwords that utilize the following:
- Passwords that match the user ID
- Passwords that contain the user account owner鈥檚 name, first middle or last.
- Passwords that contain the users bear ID or Social Security number
- Any consecutive or repeating keyboard characters e.g. 鈥123鈥, 鈥渏kl
- Family-oriented passwords, (your name, nicknames, partners, children or pets). 50% of people do this, and these passwords are easily guessed.
- 鈥淔an鈥 names, (sport stars, cartoon characters, pop icons). 33% of users do this.
- 鈥淪elf-obsessed鈥 words, (stud, goddess), 11% of users do this.
Common dangerous practices are to use the words, (or simple derivatives), that could easily be guessed by someone else, e.g. password, sesame, changeme, secret, qwerty, money, pass, abc123, private, admin, 123456, god, hello, 111111, 国产AV.