Your passwords are as important to securing your personal information as your keys are to protecting your house or car from intruders. A person who finds out your Truman username and password can get access to personal, financial, residential, and institutional information. They can also use your account in any way you can, browsing the web (potentially looking at objectionable material that would be traced to your account), printing to campus printers using your printing money, accessing your files, sending emails, and a host of other things. A malicious intruder can cause a lot of damage.
What's a good password?
A good password is one that can't be easily guessed, but is easy for you to remember. It should contain different types of characters, including upper and lower case letters, numbers, and other symbols, such as %, #, or @. It should be at least 8 characters long, but longer than that is better: 14 characters or longer is recommended. It should use no dictionary words.
Good and bad passwords
BAD: iwantahedgehogtoday
This password is made of dictionary words without any other characters and is easily guessable.
BETTER: iw@ntah3Dgehog?2day
This is better, as it is not immediately guessable. However, it is still comprised of dictionary words.
GOOD: 1waHh;2D!
This contains no dictionary words, but still contains the first letters, in some cases altered, of the original phrase:
1: I
w: want
a: a
H: hedge
h: hog
;
2: to-
D: day
!
BAD: footballfanforever
BETTER: f0otb@L1fan4ever
GOOD: F0blfn4evr
What does Truman require?
- Not contain all or part of the user's account name
- Be at least eight characters in length
- Contain characters from three of the following four categories:
- English uppercase characters (A through Z)
- English lowercase characters (a through z)
- Base 10 digits (0 through 9)
- Non-alphabetic characters (for example, !, $, #, %) - NOTE: Using & in your password will cause problems logging into TruView
Additionally, your password must be changed every 180 days. You will receive notifications periodically after having the same password for 150 days to change the password. After 180 days, the account will be flagged as requiring a password change, and you will not be able to log on without changing it.
How can I change my password?
You can:
-
Go to http://secure.truman.edu/password/ and change it online
-
Go to any campus computer, hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and select the "Change Password..." option
-
Stop by the Helpdesk in McClain 112 where you can receive in person help in changing the password
Additional information
SecurityStats.com, where you can test the strength of your password
http://www.securitystats.com/tools/password.php
Microsoft's Password Strength & Password Security Page
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/create.mspx
SecurityFocus article "The Simplest Security"
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1537
