Everyone is now accustomed to using passwords. At MassArt, your password is confidential information entrusted to you. It is your responsibility to protect your password and keep it confidential. This is not only best practice, but it is policy at MassArt.
There’s more to consider with a password other than just confidentiality because that is just one aspect of making a strong password.
What is a complex password?
Just as there are varying strengths of locks, there are varying strengths of passwords. A strong password has the following characteristics:
- Keep your passwords private – never share a password with anyone else
- Do not write down your passwords, use a password manager instead
- A strong password should look like a series of random characters
- Use passwords of at least twelve (12) characters or more (longer is better)
- Use a combination of upper-case letters, lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters (for example: !, @, &, %, +) in all passwords
- Difficult to guess - Avoid using people’s or pet’s names, or words found in the dictionary; it’s also best to avoid using key dates (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) There are hacker programs that attempt to guess passwords by combining words in dictionaries
- Substituting look – alike characters for letters or numbers is no longer sufficient (for example, Password” and “P@ssw0rd”)
- No more than 90 days old - the longer a password exists, the more opportunities hackers have to discover it or crack it using computer algorithms
- It's unique - should not have been previously used for any account, and is different for each of your account you have
How To Create a Complex Password
Here’s a way to make a strong password that’s very hard to crack:
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Think of a phrase. It should be something easy for you to remember but hard for someone who knows you to guess. It could be a line from a favorite poem, story, movie, song lyric, or quotation you like.
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I Want To Put A Dent In The Universe |
| Remove all but the first letter of each word in your phrase. |
IWTPADITU |
| Replace several of the upper-case letters with lower-case ones, at random. |
iWtpADitU |
| Now substitute a number for at least one of the letters. (Here, we’ve changed the capital “I” to the numeral 1). |
iWtpAD1tU |
| Finally, use special characters ( $, &, +, !, @) to replace a letter or two -- preferably a letter that is repeated in the phrase. You can also add an extra character to the mix. (Here, we’ve replaced the “t” with “+”, and added an exclamation point at the end.) |
iW+pAD1tU! |
Consider a Password Manager
Another strategy is to use a password manager to devise a strong password and store it securely. A password manager is an application you run on your computer or as a browser plug-in. Most password managers are also available as smart phone apps. Two that we like are Keeper and LastPass. Many password managers offer a free version, so you do not necessarily have to purchase a license.
Why are Password Managers good to use?
- Create a unique password for each website or application that is very strong
- Store your passwords securely
- Make your passwords accessible from anywhere (for password managers that store data in the cloud)
- Automatically ability to fill in your passwords in web site forms (typically via an installed browser plug-in)
With every benefit there is a downside: Your password for your password manager itself is the “keys to the kingdom”, so if you do use a password manager then that password is extremely confidential personal information. However, the benefits will outweigh the downsides for most people.
By keeping your password strong, you help keep MassArt’s data protected!