The following technical notes provide best practices for creating and protecting passwords.
Best practices for creating passwords
The following table provides best practices for creating passwords:
Table 1. Best practices for creating passwords
Best practice
Details
Do not use Personal Identifiable Information (PII).
Do not use PII in the password, such as:
Your name
Your username
Your birthday
Names of pets
Names of your children
Name of your alma mater
Keywords that are associated with your hobbies
Do not use words from the dictionary.
Do not use any word that can be found in the dictionary as your full password.
Use strong passwords.
Always use strong passwords when creating passwords. Strong passwords include:
At least eight characters
Special characters such as a percent sign (%) or ampersand (&)
Non-alphabetic characters
Both uppercase and lowercase characters
Use different passwords for user accounts
Always use a different password for each user account.
Change your password regularly
Change your most critical passwords regularly.
Change your passwords at least every 6 months.
When you change your password, avoid using variations of a previous password.
Immediately change your password if you expect another person has access to your account, or knows your password.
Always change your password as soon as you receive an account.
Password protection best practices
Create a password that you can remember without the need to store it. However, if the password must be stored, follow these recommendations:
Use a password vault application to protect and help manage your passwords.
If passwords must be written down on a piece of paper, store the paper in a secure place and destroy it when it is no longer needed.
Do not put your username and password on a post-it note under your keyboard.
Do not write down your username and password in the same place.
Use caution regarding where passwords are saved on computers. Some dialog boxes, such as those for remote access and other telephone connections, present an option to save or remember a password. Selecting this option poses a potential security threat.
Never share your passwords with anyone and do not give your password to anyone over the phone.
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