Requirements for a Valid Password

This page contains tips on keeping your password from being easily "hacked".

Valid Passwords

These are the requirements for a valid password:

1. A password must contain at least six characters. Only the first eight are used, so there isn't any point to having a longer password.
2. It must contain at least two alphabetic characters (lower or upper case) and one numeric or "special" character.
3. It cannot be your login name or any "scrambled" combination of it.
4. A valid password may not contain any of the following "special characters": a pound sign ("#"), an at ("@") symbol, a pipe ("|") or a wildcard ("*" or "?") character.
5. Finally, it must differ from your old password by at least three characters.

Presently, WebCom staff must be notified through e-mail to the "support" address when a password change is necessary, but a form interface for this is being developed.

Password Security

As with any other password protected account, basic precautions are necessary to prevent unauthorized access.

• Don't give your password out to anyone.
• Memorize your password, and destroy any written copies of it after you have done so.
• Don't make your password obvious (name of a pet, home address, etc.), even if you "scramble" it. Most "hackers" succeed in gaining unauthorized access either by guesses based on items of this sort, and from digging around in the trash, rather than elaborate "hacking".
• Avoid using words found in the dictionary. Password guessing programs try these first.