Passwords are an essential aspect of computer security. A poorly chosen password may result in unauthorized access to your account and the data your account has access to. Because keeping your account and information secure is so important to us, your PLNU account password must meet the following criteria:
- Must be at least 12 characters long
- You cannot reuse your last ten passwords
- You cannot use 3 or more sequential characters (like “123”, "987", “abc”, or "cba".)
- You cannot use 3 or more repeated characters (like “ttt” or “111”.)
- You cannot use your user name
- You cannot use any alphanumeric portion of your full name
- Contain at least three of the four following character classes:
- Lower case characters
- Upper case characters
- Numbers
- “Special” characters (e.g. @#$%^&*()_+|~-=\`{}[]:";'<>/)
Beginning in the Fall of 2021, PLNU accounts no longer have to change passwords annually, but only if/when a password is compromised online and ITS is notified. Additionally, passwords that have already been compromised and shared online will not be accepted when choosing a new password.
When choosing a new password or passphrase, avoid using personal information that can be easily guessed or found online, such as on social media. It is also vital that your PLNU account password not be reused for other accounts. Below are some tips for choosing a secure, memorable, and unique password for your PLNU account.
Make your password or passphrase memorable such as:
- A lyric from a song or poem
- A meaningful quote from a movie or speech
- A passage from a book
- A series of words that are meaningful to you
- An abbreviation: Make a password from the first letter of each word in a sentence
When creating a password here is a tool to help verify that it has not been compromised. https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords. If you’re unsure how secure your password is you can look it up through a password generator https://www.lastpass.com/features/password-generator. You can type in a password and it will tell you the strength of it or you can customize your password with a few options.
Password Management
If you have trouble remembering passwords or managing passwords use a password manager. There are several that are free or as low as a few dollars a month. OneLogin has a built-in password manager for free! Here are a few recommended password managers: LastPass, DashLane, and 1Password.
Tips
Use Multi-Factor authentication when possible, it adds a second layer of security. Use a password manager instead of writing down or keeping it on your computer.
Password generators
https://1password.com/password-generator/
https://www.dashlane.com/features/password-generator
https://passwordsgenerator.net/