Changing Your Password
Departments of Mathematics & Statistics,
University of South Carolina
As of August 9, 1995 our password propagation scheme has been changed.
From now on you must use libano (instead of milo) to change your password:
The steps of changing the password are:
Select an xterm-window and type in the following:
- rlogin libano
-
connects you to the machine called libano
- passwd
-
asks for your old passwd, then for the new one
(it will not let you proceed till you chose a
good password)
- exit
-
closes the connection to libano
Guidelines on how to choose a good password:
-
Don't use your login name in any form
(as-is, reversed, capitalized, doubled, etc.).
-
Don't use your first or last name in any form.
-
Don't use your spouse's or child's name.
-
Don't use other information easily obtained
about you. This includes license plate numbers,
telephone numbers, social security numbers, the brand of
your automobile, the name of the street you live on,
etc.
-
Don't use a password of all digits, or all the
same letter. This significantly decreases the search
time for a cracker.
-
Don't use a word contained in (English or
foreign language) dictionaries, spelling lists, or other
lists of words.
-
Don't use a password shorter than six characters.
-
Do use a password with mixed-case alphabetics.
-
Do use a password with non-alphabetic characters,
e.g., digits or punctuation.
-
Do use a password that is easy to remember, so you
don't have to write it down.
-
Do use a password that you can type quickly, without
having to look at the keyboard. This makes it harder
for someone to steal your password by watching over
your shoulder.
Although this list may seem to restrict passwords to
an extreme, there are several methods for choosing secure,
easy-to-remember passwords that obey the above rules. Some of
these include the following:
-
Choose a line or two from a song or poem, and use the
first letter of each word. For example, ``In
Xanadu did Kubla Kahn a stately pleasure dome
decree'' becomes ``IXdKKaspdd.''
-
Alternate between one consonant and one or
two vowels, up to eight characters. This provides
non-sense words that are usually pronounceable, and
thus easily remembered. Examples include
``routboo,'' ``quadpop,'' and so on.
-
Choose two short words and concatenate them together
with a punctuation character between them. For
example: ``dog;rain,'' ``book+mug,'' ``kid?goat.''