UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 7
October 17, 1996
Passwords and PINs: For your eyes only

     When selecting a new password or PIN, select something that
is easy for you to remember, but not easy for others to guess. Do
not select a name, word, birth date, current telephone number or
foreign word.
          On the University's central server, your password
should be 6-8 characters long. Your Voice Mail PIN and UD-PIN
both must be at least four digits.
          Use the entire range of characters available when you
select a new password. MVS users should use a combination of
letters and numbers in their passwords. UNIX (Copland and
Strauss) users should use a combination of upper- and lower-case
letters, numbers and punctuation marks in their passwords.
          To the left are several examples of passwords that are
not as secure as they can be. With the suggested revisions, these
examples are much more secure.
          When selecting a PIN, try using part of an old
telephone number or spelling a word on your telephone. For
example, the word "test" would become 8378.
     Be sure you don't use any of these examples for your
password or PIN since they have now been published here!