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Accounts: Choosing a Secure Password
Guidelines and suggestions for devising a secure password
CAE's Password Policy, like UW-Madison's campus-wide Credential Policy and Password Standard, aligns with NIST's latest guidance (800-63-3).
CAE's password rules consist of the following:
- Cannot have been previously used by the account
- Length must be between 8 and 64 characters
- Cannot match anything in your account information, such as the login name, initials, date of birth, or UW ID number.
- Cannot be on the known compromised list (many millions of entries)
- Cannot be based on a dictionary word
- Cannot be a common keyboard pattern
How to Make a Good Password:
The new rules primarily emphasize password length, while using phrases that will be easy for YOU to remember (and not others). It is recommended, but not required, to mix in some capital letters and character substitutions to increase complexity.
Example of a strong password:
blueBird0fHappinessThe passwords for Windows and Linux operating systems are all the same. Case does matter, so remember what is upper case and what's lower.
To help protect the security of your account, please remember the following:
- Do not write your password down.
- Do not tell anyone your password. The administrator of a computer system NEVER needs to know anyone else's password.
- Do not use the same password elsewhere. If your password is somehow disclosed at another site or ours, it would make it very easy for a hacker to cause damage at multiple sites.
- Do not keep it in any files.
- Do not send it via email.
If you have questions or need help, please feel free contact the CAE HelpDesk:
- Send an e-mail to helpdesk@cae.wisc.edu
- Call the consultants at 262-5349
- Go to room 116 CAE (1410 Engineering Drive)