Password Security

As a University of Cincinnati student/faculty/staff, you have an account with a password to access university resources. As a normal, everyday, casual Internet user, you probably have multiple accounts to different services on top of your University account. What do all of these accounts have in common? A password. Creating secure passwords is more important than most tend to realize. Your password is like the key to your home, would you want everyone in the neighborhood to have a copy?

Selecting a Strong Password

Your password should follow these guidelines:

Minimum length of eight (8) characters
- At least one lowercase letter
- At least one uppercase letter
- At least one number
- At least one special character

You should NOT use:

Any part of your name/username
Old passwords (reuse)
Any ID number or User ID in any form
Your phone number, address, birthday, or anniversary

Two-Factor Authentication

In most cases nowadays, a password alone is not enough to keep intruders out of your account. If you use any of the services below, follow the link to read about their two-factor authentication service offering.

Services with Two-Factor Authentication:

Simple Technique to Make a Strong and Easy-to-Remember Password

The following tips will help you create an easy-to-remember password while still following all of the above guidelines.

Come up with a unique sentence and pick the first letter of each word in the sentence. Change some of the capitalization.
- Unique sentence example: "No, I am the one who knocks"
- This will give you the password NIatowk
Add in a number and/or punctuation mark somewhere.
- Using the above example, adding some additional symbols would create N!Iat0^wk
Now you have an easy-to-remember, secure password!

Remember, never use the same password for multiple accounts!