Security Tips: General
- Longer passwords are more secure; try selecting passwords that are 8 characters in length.
- Change passwords periodically
- Never give a password to anyone else. This includes the system administrators, they will never need a users' password to do their job.
- Good Passwords
- using both upper and lower case letters *
- using numbers and/or special characters *
- using the longest password allowed (usually 6 or 8 characters)
- easy to remember so it doesn't need to be written anywhere.
(* not supported on every operating system)
- Bad Passwords
- the password matching the userid
- the names of people, birthdates, or any personal information that may be publicly obtained.
- words found in dictionaries (including foreign languages)
- short passwords
- bad passwords spelled backwards
- simple letter substitution (ie: using '3' for 'e' or '0' for 'o')
- any password that is written somewhere
An easy way to select a good password is to use an acronym that is easy to remember. Then mix the case and add a number or special character. "I hate all this password stuff" could result in 'Ihatps!'. Of course, this is a sample and since it's shown here it should not be used. It is no longer a secure password.
- Never set the other write permission on any file.
- Only turn on the other read or execute permission on a file if you want the file to be public readable.