Strong passwords are of the utmost importance. They protect your electronic accounts and devices from unauthorized access, keeping your sensitive personal information safe. The more complex your password, the more protected your information will be from cyber threats and hackers. Every user should be aware of how to select and use strong and secure passwords. Users are strongly advised not to use weak passwords. Here are some tips and recommendations on creating a strong and secure password that can help safeguard your information.

The best practices for creating strong and secure passwords are:

• A password should be composed of at least twelve (12) characters or more, with a combination of lowercase, uppercase, and numbers. Password-related research has found that 45 percent of Americans use passwords of eight characters or less, which are not as secure as longer passwords.
• Select quality passwords that are easy for you to remember, such as passphrases.
• A password should include a combination of letters, numbers, and characters.
• A password should not be shared with any other account.
• A password should not include any of the user’s personal information like their address or phone number, family or pet names, names of friends or co-workers, birthdays, anniversaries, Social Security Numbers, etc. It’s also best not to include any information that can be accessed on social media.
• A password should not contain any consecutive letters or numbers, or any word, keyboard, or number patterns like aaabbb, qwerty, zyxwvuts, 123321, etc. .
• A password should not be the word “password” or anything that can be easily guessed, such as Password#10, Summer2020, Cowboys1980, Samuel1234, M0onk3y99, etc.

Below is a chart that can guide and help check the strength of your password. The goal is to have your password in the green area!

Protecting Passwords 

User IDs and passwords are not to be shared with anyone.  Do not write them down where someone can find them.  Do not send them over the Internet, Intranet, e-mail, or any other communication line.  Do not use any automatic log in features to save password information for accessing any District system. 

Do not log in using a District user ID and password in order to allow another person access to any computer, network, software, or data.  If another person needs access, he/she must obtain his/her own user ID and password.