- Be at least 10 characters long.
- Must meet at least 3 of the following requirements
- Must contain at least 1 upper case letter
- Must contain at least 1 lower case letter
- Must contain at least 1 digit (numeral)
- Must contain at least 1special character (those characters above the number keys on a desktop keyboard, for instance)
- In addition your new password:
- Must not contain your username
- Must be different than your prior password
Security recommendations
- To help prevent identity theft, personal or fiscally useful information such as Social Security, CTX Banner i.d. or credit card numbers must never be used as a user ID or a password.
- All passwords are to be treated as sensitive information and should therefore never be written down or stored on-line unless adequately secured using an ITS approved system. NOTE: Do not use the password storage feature offered on Windows or other operating systems. This feature creates a password file that is vulnerable to hackers.
- The same password should not be used for access needs external to CTX (e.g., online banking, benefits, etc.).
- Individual passwords should not be shared with anyone, including administrative assistants.
- If a password is suspected to have been compromised, it should be changed immediately and the incident reported to the ITS through the Helpdesk at 512-313-4357 or ctxhelp@personalsupportcenter.com.
Hints for Creating Passwords
- Create an acronym from a phrase of your choice: all good boys deserve fudge and ice cream forever becomes: AgbDfic4e
- Create a base password and then add a suffix or a prefix to the base password to differentiate your various accounts.
- Passphra.se located at http://passphra.se/ is another resource to help you find a memorable password. You will need to add the upper case/lower case, numeric and special character to the phrase generated to make it a safe password.