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Hints on Creating Passwords |
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Information Services Division - Customer Service Center |
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Questions or comments? Contact the ISD Help Desk at 334-242-2222 or help.desk@isd.alabama.gov |
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Do you find it difficult to create a complex yet easy to remember password? The following is a trick for creating network passwords that meet complexity requirements while still being possible to remember. A password must meet the following criteria (the criteria listed below only applies to network login passwords, not mainframe passwords) 1. Cannot contain any or all of the user’s name. 2. Must be at least 8 characters. 3. Must contain characters from 3 of the following categories A. Uppercase English letters (A to Z) B. Lowercase English letters (a to z) C. Number 0 to 9 D. Non-alphanumeric characters (!, @, #, $, etc.) Step 1: Come up with a base word Pick the name of a pet or any common thing that’s easy to remember. For example, say you once lived in Louisville. You can use that to establish the base of your password and satisfy the required criteria for a strong password. Remember: You need at least three of the following: uppercase, lowercase, numbers, non-alphanumeric characters. So, using Louisville as your base word, you can substitute an ! or 1 for i and replace the s with $, the same with o and 0 — e.g., Lou1$ville or L0u!$ville. Step 2: Add more characters to the base word Pick any four characters to add to the base word. For example if you lived in this city in 1965, then your new password could be Lou1$ville1965. Keep in mind that this example is a 14-character password. While it is longer than the actual requirement, it may be easier to remember.
¨ Mullins, Michael. “Help Users create complex passwords that are easy to remember.” Jan 19, 2006. http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-1009_11-6028857.html |