All about Passwords

Policy Change Password Check Password Life Span Good Password Problems, Expired Passwords

Password Policy

Except for password length, the CSS password policy aligns with that of ITS. Engineering account passwords must be at least 9 characters long; ITS requires only 6 characters. In all other respects our passwords meet the same rules as the ITS passwords.

Passwords

• must include 2 letters and 2 non-letters. We encourage using at least one non-alphanumeric character.
• cannot include any 4 consecutive characters of your user name, Hawk ID, or current password.
• cannot match any of your 10 previous passwords.
• are valid for 180 days, but can be changed more often.

Changing Your Password

CSS provides several ways to change your password. If you are logged into a college-administered Windows computer, press the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys at the same time and select the Change Password button. You must enter the current password and your new password twice. If you are logged in remotely, on a Linux workstation, or on a self-adminstered computer, go to the CSS password tools page to change your password. Enroll so that you can change or reset your password or unlock your account. Read about using the CSS password tools.

You can change your password to reactivate your account even if your password has already expired; go to the password tools page and select Change.

If you forget your password, come the the CSS Main Office, 1256 SC.

You use the same password to login to Windows, Linux, and Engineering email.

Check Your Password

Use the Engineering Account Password Checking Tool to verify that you know your Engineering account password. If you enter your password correctly but your account is locked or the password has expired, that information is returned.

Password Life Span

Passwords have minimum and maximum life spans. The minimum life span (meaning you cannot change your password until this time has expired) is 2 minutes. The maximum life span is 180 days. If you forget your password, go to the CSS office, 1256 SC, to request that your password be reset. Or enroll on the password tools pages so that you can reset your password yourself.

What Makes a Good Password

Passwords protect your account from unauthorized access. For this reason, CSS implements password restrictions in order to deter password cracking. Passwords rules are listed above. In addition, we recommend that your password contain at least one non-alphanumeric character and that it not contain any portion of your name or another person's name as a part of your password. In general, if part of your password is a proper name or a word that appears in an English dictionary, it is not a secure password. If you have a dog named Ace, mydog=ace would not be a secure password.

Valid non-alphanumeric characters are
, + - $ [ ] * & ^ / % { } | " ' ? < > _ :
Do not use the characters : \ ! @ # [space]

Password Problems, Time Limits, Expired Passwords

If you try to enter your password but do so incorrectly 15 times in 15 minutes, your engineering account is locked for 5 minutes.

After successfully changing your password, there is a waiting period of 2 minutes before you can change it again. You have only one password. Your mail password is the same as your account password; when you change your account password, your mail password will also be changed.

Your password is valid for 180 days. Two weeks prior to the date that your password will expire, you will begin to see reminder messages to change your password each time you log in. Once your password has expired, the next time you log in the system will prompt you to change your password. After changing it, you will need to log back in immediately with the new password.

updated: 28 April 2008