Selecting Passwords For Your NIU Computer Accounts
A good password cannot be guessed by someone who has personal information about you and one that cannot be cracked by the sophisticated programs available today to crack encrypted passwords.
Why do you need a good password?
Your account may be attacked for the purpose of launching a larger attack.
Selecting a good password
Your password must be 8 characters long. It must be a mix of numbers and lowercase letters.
An easy way to select a password is to form an acronym from a phrase. For example:
- I like three bean salad on Sunday night becomes il3bsosn
- Excuse me, do you have 5 cents becomes emedyh5c
Don't use the same password for all your accounts. A simple way do this is to choose a base password, then modify it for each account. For example, if you had two computer accounts, you could use the following two passwords:
- I like three bean salad on Sunday night could become il3bsosn
- I like three bean salad on Monday night could become Il3bsomn
NOTE: All of the example passwords given here are no longer good passwords.
Do NOT use them as passwords for any of your computer accounts.
After you have selected good passwords for each of your computer accounts, do not write them down and do not give them to another user. A good password is secure only as long as no one else knows it.
When selecting a new password do not use
- Your first, last, or middle name or a nickname.
- The first, last, or middle name or nickname of your spouse, child, parent, close friend, coworker, or boss.
- A combination of your initials and other parts of your name.
- The name of your pet or any fantasy or cartoon character.
- The name of your department or an abbreviation for your department.
- The name of the operating system running on your computer.
- The hostname of your computer.
- Any name at all.
- Your phone number or license plate number.
- Any part of your social security number.
- Your AccountID or Z-ID.
- Your birth date or the birth date of any friend or relative.
- Any other information that might be easily obtained about you, such as your address, job title, or alma mater.
- Any word in the English dictionary or any foreign dictionary.
- A geographical or product name, or any other proper noun.
- An acronym or any technical term.
- Common patterns of letters from the keyboard, like aaaaaa or qwerty.
- Any name or word spelled backwards.
- Any name or word with some or all of the letters capitalized.
- Any name or word spelled backwards and with some or all of the letters capitalized.
- Any name or word with a number, punctuation mark, or other keyboard character added to the front or back of it.
- Any name or word where some of the letters have been changed to a number or other character.
- Any name or word with all the vowels removed.
- Two or more small words concatenated together.
