Password Management

Password Management is simply a set of principles using best practices to efficiently create and manage passwords to prevent unauthorized access.

STRENGTH

The recommendations for creating a strong password are to include:

  • Lower Case Characters
  • Upper Case Characters
  • Contains Numbers
  • Contains a Special Character
  • 12 Characters or Longer

COMPLEXITY

To further strengthen a password LEETING is recommended. When you Leet a word, you exchange letters for symbols and/or numbers. For example the word “Password” would become “P@$$w0rd” by exchanging the ‘a’ with ‘@’, the ‘s’ with a ‘$’, the ‘o’ with the number ‘0’, et cetera.

PASSPHRASE

So having a long, strong, leeted password is recommended but who can remember a password like ‘m-8HP{E3<.&+J8qS,,T4aJUD'? Using a passphrase instead would meet all the requirements for strength and complexity, but would also be much easier to remember.

‘Garfield99″ is not a secure password at all even if you leet it to ‘G@rf!3ld99’ so using a passphrase such as ‘MyFatCatisOrange!’ would be great. Leeting that to ‘MyF@tC@t!$0r@ng3!’ makes it very secure and extremely easy to remember.

TRY A PASSWORD STRENGTH TESTER:
Password Meter
My1Login
Password Strength Tester

TIPS

  • Do not use any personal information that can be directly linked to you such as:
    • Family members and/or pet names
    • School and/or Work names
    • Important dates such as birthdays & anniversaries
    • Addresses or location information
  • Try to use a more memorable passphrase instead of a password
  • Try not to use the same passphrase for multiple accounts

You can store passwords using applications such as LastPass, KeePass, or a hardware authentication device like Yubikey.