Password Creation Tips
How to Create a Memorable and Secure Password
Warning: Don't use any of the actual password examples that appear on this page!Hackers relish the practice of habit and convenience. When selecting a password for commercial use, you should avoid the following information as a password:
- Your username
- Your name (and nicknames) or family name (including pets)
- Your birthdate
- Your SSN
- Your address, phone number, license plate, or town/city/state
- School mascots or slogans
- Your hobby, favorite color, or other personal preferences
Keep in mind that "easy to remember" can also become "easy to guess." In fact, your password should not be any word included in a dictionary, popular acronym, or common slang. With the sophisticated techniques available, simply reversing the spelling for any of the aforementioned words will not protect you.
Most importantly, DO NOT WRITE YOUR PASSWORD DOWN IN A PROMINENT LOCATION.
Password criteria:
- A minimum length of 8 alphanumeric characters.
- Contain a mix of upper and lower case characters.
- Have at least 1 numeric character. (The numeric character must not be at the beginning or the end of the password.)
- Special characters should be included in the password where the computing system permits. The special characters are (!@#$%^&*_+=?/~`;:,<>|\).
- Cannot be reused for a period of one year.
Suggestions:
- Select a special date in your life and put letters and/or other numbers within the password. (Remember, numbers cannot be at the beginning or end of your password.)
- Combine short, unrelated words with numbers (eAt42peN).
- Develop a system of incremental changes within your password for each 90 days. For instance, you can change the numbers in eAt42peN with numbers that you can easily remember.
-
Your password should be difficult to guess but easy to
remember. Substitute numbers or special characters for
letters based upon their appearance. With a little
imagination, you can visualize numbers that bear
resemblance to letters:. For example:
- livefish - is a bad password
- L1veF1sh - is better and satisfies the rules, but setting a pattern of 1st letter capitalized, and i's substituted by 1's can be guessed
- l!v3f1Sh - is far better, the capitalization and substitution of characters is not predictable
- water becomes w4t3r
-
icecream becomes !c3cr34m
- You could create rotating passwords by adding abbreviations for other flavors such as chocolate, strawberry, etc.
- Cho!c3cr34m
- STR!c3cr34m
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How to Change Your eRaider Password
- Sign in to your eRaider Account at https://eraider.ttuhsc.edu
- Click on "Manage Your eRaider Account".
- Click on the "eRaider Password" button at the bottom of the screen.
- Follow the instructions on the page.