IDM Team Implements Improvements
by Quinn Shamblin
Over the past few months, the Identity Management (IDM) Project team has been working to streamline and simplify user accounts at UC. Behind the scenes, they have worked to automatically ensure that your Exchange e-mail password is the same as the password you use for many other applications around campus. For more details about this, please see http://www.uc.edu/infosec/Projects.htm.
The team has also deployed a tool called Password Self-Service, that allows you to change or reset your password at any time, without having to work through the UCit Help Desk.
These new features work together to make it easier for you to manage your passwords. In March, the IDM team is planning to use these new features to address an issue we have had for many years.
Universities across the nation are coming under heavy scrutiny for lax security practices. It is not unusual for people, here at UC, to use passwords that are no stronger than a PIN code: five or six characters that are only numbers or a commonly-used word. Such passwords can be broken in a matter of seconds, and fail to comply with every modern security standard. Weak passwords are a serious threat to the security of the networks and sensitive information at UC.
In March, the IDM team plans to change the system to require strong passwords. A strong password has a mix of lower- and upper-case letters, numbers and maybe symbols. It is not a commonly used word.
This may sound daunting, but you can create and easily remember such a password. Please see How to Choose a Password for some ideas.
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