Keeping your passwords safe
Passwords are like keys: they grant access to important places, like your bank account, computer, email or a server on a network. Passwords also help prove you are who you say you are and ensure your privacy.
If passwords are guessed or stolen, someone logging in under your name can cause serious damage, including exposing financial, medical or other personal or sensitive information.
Password confidentiality can be achieved by:
- Having a strong password that is commensurate with the risk if exposed
- Always use different passwords for University accounts from other non-university access (e.g., personal email account, ebay, etc.)
- Never telling anyone your password or even hinting at it, not even friends, colleagues, system administrators, and account managers
- Picking passwords you can remember and don’t need to write down
- Logging out of a system that requires a password when stepping away from it, especially in a public area
- Using a temporary password when using a public computer to access confidential information
- Ignoring requests by websites to “remember” your password
- Not inserting your password into email messages
- Do not reveal a password on questionnaires or security forms
