Changes to password requirements
Date: 4.12.2006
The Office of Information Technology (OIT) recently made changes in the requirements for both Internet (X.500) and Enterprise passwords.
Internet ID Passwords
All University staff, faculty and students have an Internet ID Password. Your Internet ID Password provides access to most University services, including email, your personal web site (~username), UMD's modem pool, central servers (bulldog, www.d.umn.edu), Samba services, and library resources.
Internet (X.500) passwords must:
- Not contain all or any 3 character part of the user's account name
- Be from 8 to 125 characters in length (some client software is limited to 32).
- Contain characters from three of the following four categories:
- English uppercase letters (A through Z)
- English lowercase letters (a through z)
- Digits (0 through 9)
- Nonalphanumeric characters (e.g., !, #, %)
- Not end in a space, although they may contain spaces (e.g. '3 Brown mice')
Enterprise Passwords
Fewer people have an active Enterprise Password; and to actually use that password to access enterprise/institutional data, you must have been granted access to the data, systems, or resources that require an Enterprise Password. An Enterprise Password provides access to more restricted University resources, such as Peoplesoft, Financial Forms Nirvana (FFN), the Enterprise Grants Management System (EGMS), and the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS).
Enterprise passwords must:
- Not contain all or any 3 character part of the user's account name.
- Contain characters from three of the following four categories:
- English uppercase letters (A through Z)
- English lowercase letters (a through z)
- Digits (0 through 9)
- Non-alphanumeric characters (for example : , !, #, %)
- Be from 8 to 128 characters in length.
- Not end in a space, although they may contain spaces (e.g. '3 Brown mice').
- Not be the same as your Internet (x.500) password.
- Not match any of the last three Enterprise passwords you set.
For details, see the April, 2006 OIT Newsletter.