| Date:
Jun 5, 2005
Contributor: Kyle D.
Passwords are an important aspect of computer security. They are the front line of protection for user accounts. A poorly chosen password may result in the compromise of your companies entire corporate network. As such, all business employees (including contractors and vendors with access to business systems) are responsible for taking the appropriate steps, as outlined below, to select and secure their passwords.
The purpose of this article is to provide information about passwords, creation of strong passwords, the protection of those passwords, and the frequency of change.
People who have or are responsible for a computer account (or any form of access that supports or requires a password) on any system that resides at any business facility, has access to the business network, or stores any non-public business information.
-All system-level passwords (e.g., root, enable, NT admin, application administration accounts, etc.) should be changed on at least a quarterly basis.
-All user-level passwords (e.g., email, web, desktop computer, etc.) should be changed at least every 6 months. The recommended change interval is every 3 to 4 months.
-User accounts that have system-level privileges granted through group memberships or programs should have a unique password from all other accounts held by that user.
-Passwords should not be inserted into email messages or other forms of electronic communication.
-Where SNMP is used, the community strings should be defined as something other than the standard defaults of "public," "private" and "system" and should be different from the passwords used to log in interactively. A keyed hash should be used where available (e.g., SNMPv2).
-All user-level and system-level passwords should conform to the guidelines described below.
Passwords are used for various purposes at each business. Some of the more common uses include: user level accounts, web accounts, email accounts, screen saver protection, voicemail password, and local router logins. Since very few systems have support for one-time tokens (i.e., dynamic passwords which are only used once), everyone should be aware of how to select strong passwords.
Poor, weak passwords have the following characteristics:
-The password contains less than eight characters
-The password is a word found in a dictionary (English or foreign)
-The password is a common usage word such as:
-Names of family, pets, friends, co-workers, fantasy characters, etc.
-Computer terms and names, commands, sites, companies, hardware, software.
-The words "business", "sanjose", "sanfran" or any derivation.
-Birthdays and other personal information such as addresses and phone numbers.
-Word or number patterns like aaabbb, qwerty, zyxwvuts, 123321, etc.
-Any of the above spelled backwards.
-Any of the above preceded or followed by a digit (e.g., secret1, 1secret)
Strong passwords have the following characteristics:
-Contain both upper and lower case characters (e.g., a-z, A-Z)
-Have digits and punctuation characters as well as letters e.g., 0-9, !@#$%^&*()_+|~-=\`{}[]:";'<>?,./)
-Are at least eight alphanumeric characters long.
-Are not a word in any language, slang, dialect, jargon, etc.
-Are not based on personal information, names of family, etc.
-Passwords should never be written down or stored on-line. Try to create passwords that can be easily remembered. One way to do this is create a password based on a song title, affirmation, or other phrase. For example, the phrase might be: "This May Be One Way To Remember" and the password could be: "TmB1w2R!" or "Tmb1W>r~" or some other variation.
Notice: Do not use either of these examples as passwords!
Do not use the same password for business accounts as for other non-business access (e.g., personal Internet account, online banking, shopping, etc.). Where possible, don't use the same password for various business access needs. For example, select one password for the Engineering systems and a separate password for IT systems. Also, select a separate password to be used for an NT account and a Linux account.
Do not share business passwords with anyone, including administrative assistants or secretaries. All passwords should be treated as sensitive, confidential business information.
Here is a list of "dont's":
-Don't reveal a password over the phone to ANYONE
-Don't reveal a password in an email message
-Don't reveal a password to the boss
-Don't talk about a password in front of others
-Don't hint at the format of a password (e.g., "my family name")
-Don't reveal a password on questionnaires or security forms
-Don't share a password with family members
-Don't reveal a password to co-workers while on vacation
If someone demands a password, refer them to your manager or have them call someone in the Information Technology Department.
Do not use the "Remember Password" feature of applications (e.g., OutLook, Messenger).
Again, do not write passwords down and store them anywhere in your office. Do not store passwords in a file on ANY computer system (including Palm Pilots or similar devices) without encryption.
Change passwords at least once every six months (except system-level passwords which should be changed quarterly). The recommended change interval is every four months.
If an account or password is suspected to have been compromised, report the incident and change all passwords.
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