Information Management has completed the Spring 2009 password audit. Of the 4000+ active accounts audited, 152 were cracked by the password auditing software. This is a definite improvement to last year’s audit. Congratulations to those of you who use strong passwords and defeated the password auditing software!

The 152 users whose passwords were cracked will be receiving an email in the next few days notifying them that they will be required to change their passwords by Monday, April 27^th 2009.

A good password has a mix of letters, numbers, and special characters, and no discernable names or words which could be found in the dictionary.  Try to make your password easy for you to remember, but look like a bunch of gibberish.  For example, turn the phrase “I like to study in Barnes 209” into the password “il2siB209” – presto, a good secure password that’s nice and easy to remember!

Please keep in mind that passwords are one of the most important aspects of IT security. The overall IT security infrastructure is only as strong as users’ passwords, and even a single password compromise can have a catastrophic impact upon that infrastructure.  For more information about how you can protect yourself from all manner of IT-related threats, including identity theft, please see our comprehensive webpage here: http://helpdesk.coloradocollege.edu/index.php/tips-and-how-to/protect-your-computer/