Passwords are an essential part of modern life. Whether we are in the workplace or at home, many of us will provide a password each day to access our accounts. Creating a new password can be tricky, it needs to be something you can remember but also difficult for others to guess.
When updating your IT account password in Subscribe, you will notice we use a set of requirements to help you create a strong password – this is in place to help protect your account and the systems used at the University. A similar approach can be adopted for all your accounts.
Creating a strong password
When creating a new password, use the following best practices to help protect your accounts:
- Use three random words – the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) suggest combining three random words to create a single password. For example, “phoneglassespaper” is a much stronger and longer password than using something that many people may already use such as “P@sSw0rd!”.
- Avoid using the most common passwords – In 2019, the NCSC found “123456” appeared in more than 23 million passwords! Cyber criminals can usually guess “123456” or “password”. You should also avoid using details that can be found on your social media account, such as your birthday, special dates or your pet!
- Stay away from re-using the same password across multiple accounts – If a password to access an important account is stolen by a cyber-criminal, they will most likely try and use it on your other online accounts.
Your university password
- Remember the University will never ask for your password, so you shouldn’t give it to anyone even if they ask.
- When updating your password in Subscribe, the University will alert you if you are trying to use a password which has already been identified in a password breach on the internet.
Further support and advice
- Staff and PGRs, if you haven’t already done so, please ensure you complete the two mandatory cyber security training courses. Please feel free to take the training again if you would like to refresh your cyber security awareness.
- If you do have any cyber security related questions or concerns, please contact ServiceLine who will be able to support you.
- More information can be found on the Cyber Security SharePoint site.