Changing Your Password
To be granted access to the UNM Computer Science network and its services, you must have a password which is only known by you. Your password is the first line of security for your Computer Science account. It is your responsibility to protect your password and your Computer Science account. If your password is stolen or compromised, you could find your account locked without warning. If you share your password with anybody, your account will be locked.
- Must not be easily guessed. Do not use your name, your pet's name or a password that contains your username.
- Must be a minimum of eight characters to a maximum of 40 characters.
- A password can be a sentence of at least three words separated by spaces and be at least 13 characters long
- If shorter than 13 characters, the password must contain characters from at least three of the following four character classes:
- Numbers: 0, 1, 2, ...
- Uppercase letters: A, B, C, ...
- Lowercase letters: a, b, c, ...
- Special characters: ~ ! @ # $ < > ...
To change your CS account password:
- Log into either moons.cs.unm.edu or trucks.cs.unm.edu either via SSH or by sitting at the console in the CS Lab
- At the command prompt, enter: passwd. This command will allow you to change your password.
Be sure to pick a good password. SSG periodically runs password checking tools:
if your password is guessed, your account will be locked.
Password picking advice
- Do not use even part of your name, login, or obvious things like "CS or "UNM".
- Do not use your birthday, social security number, driver's license number, etc.
- Do not re-use passwords from other systems.
- Do not use a password contained in any dictionary: this includes foreign
and made-up languages like Klingon or Elvish.
- Do not include team names, jersey numbers, favorite sport, TV shows/characters,
movies or celebrities, keyboard patterns like "qwerty" or "1q2w3e", any name,
including given names like "Jennifer" and geographical names like "Chicago".
- Do start with a phrase you will not forget, and use the initial letters as
a start. If the phrase is long enough, this may be good enough.
- Do use random password generators, with the caveat you must use them on a machine you trust, where no one can read over your shoulder.
- Do include variations such as Upper caSe letters mixed in, Symbols (%@*) and adding or substituting numbers.
- That being said, try to avoid obvious changes, and certainly don't rely on
them: "(0mput3r" is not a strong password: automatic password
checking tools try these obvious solutions as well as normal dictionary words.
Some common substitutions:
- "$" or "5" for the letter "S"
- 0 (zero) for the letter "O,"
- "1" for the letter "L."
- '+' for the letter 'T'.
- "(" for the letter "C"
- "@" for the letter "a"
- "3" for the letter "e"
- "#" for the letter "h"
