OIT announces new password policy
The Office of Information Technology鈥檚 Information Security and Assurance team is updating and improving the . These standards align with Board of Regents Policy 02.07 and are part of ongoing efforts to strengthen our institution鈥檚 cybersecurity. As part of these improvements, 麻豆原创 will implement a new password policy.
What鈥檚 Changing?
Starting Feb. 5, ELMO will require a new minimum password length of 16 characters 鈥 twice the length of the current minimum of eight characters. These longer passwords, called 鈥減assphrases,鈥 have the following benefits:
- Easier for humans to remember: Passphrases don鈥檛 need to contain numbers, special characters or capital letters, so your password can be unique and random, but still memorable to you. Consider three to four words that mean something to you but aren鈥檛 related to each other. Now you have a passphrase!
- Greater security: Passphrases are significantly more resilient against brute force attacks, rainbow tables and dictionary attacks.
- Less frequent changes: Passphrases will remain valid for 730 days (two years), compared to the current 400 days.
If you change your password before the effective date, your current password will remain valid under the old password policy until it expires, so access to your University account won鈥檛 be impacted by this change.
For more information, visit site, or contact the Nanook Technology Service Desk.