Dominican University

1.0 Overview

Passwords are an important aspect of computer security. They are the front line of protection for user acounts. A poorly chosen password may result in the compromise of Dominican University’s entire network. As such, all Dominican University faculty, staff and students (including contractors and vendors with access to Dominican University systems) are responsible for taking the appropriate steps, as outlined below, to select and secure their passwords.

 

 

3.0 Scope

The scope of this policy includes all personnel who have or are responsible for an account (or any form of access that supports or requires a password) on any system that resides at any Dominican University facility, has access to the Dominican University network, or stores any non-public Dominican University information.

 

4.0 Policy

4.1 General

·         All system-level passwords (e.g., root, enable, NT admin, application administration accounts, etc.) must be changed on at least a quarterly basis.

·         All production system-level passwords must be part of the Dominican University administered NetWrix Privileged Account Manager database.

·         All faculty and staff network passwords must be changed at least every twelve months. The recommended change interval is every six months.

·         User accounts that have system-level privileges granted through group memberships must have a unique password from all other accounts held by that user.

·         Passwords must not be inserted into email messages or other forms of electronic communication.

·         Where SNMP is used, the community strings must be defined as something other than the standard defaults of "public," "private" and "system" and must be different from the passwords used to log in interactively. A keyed hash must be used where available (e.g., SNMPv2).

·         All user-level and system-level passwords must conform to the guidelines described below.

 

4.2 Guidelines

A. General Network Password Construction Guidelines

Network passwords are used for various purposes at Dominican University. Some of the more common uses include: network accounts, email accounts, and screen saver protection. Since very few systems have support for one-time tokens (i.e., dynamic passwords which are only used once), everyone should be aware of how to select strong passwords.

 

Poor, weak passwords have the following characteristics:

·         The password contains less than fifteen characters

·         The password is a word found in a dictionary (English or foreign)

·         The password is a common usage word such as:

o   Names of family, pets, friends, co-workers, fantasy characters, etc.

o   Computer terms and names, commands, sites, companies, hardware, software.

o   The words "", "sanjose", "sanfran" or any derivation.

o   Birthdays and other personal information such as addresses and phone numbers.

o   Word or number patterns like aaabbb, qwerty, zyxwvuts, 123321, etc.

o   Any of the above spelled backwards.

o   Any of the above preceded or followed by a digit (e.g., secret1, 1secret)

 

Strong passwords have the following characteristics:

·         Contain both upper and lower case characters (e.g., a-z, A-Z)

·         Have digits and punctuation characters as well as letters e.g., 0-9, !@#$%^&*()_+|~-

·         =\`{}[]:";'<>?,./)

·         Are at least fifteen alphanumeric characters long and is a passphrase (Ohmy1stubbedmyt0e).

·         Are not a word in any language, slang, dialect, jargon, etc.

·         Are not based on personal information, names of family, etc.

·         Passwords should never be written down or stored on-line. Try to create passwords that can be easily remembered. One way to do this is create a password based on a song title, affirmation, or other phrase. For example, the phrase might be: "This May Be One Way To Remember" and the password could be: "TmB1w2R!" or "Tmb1W>r~" or some other variation.

 

NOTE: Do not use either of these examples as passwords!

 

B. Network Password Requirements

 

·         The minimum password length is 8 characters.

·         The maximum password length is 16 characters.

·         The password is case-sensitive.

·         The password can contain uppercase letters and lowercase letters.

·         The password can contain numbers.

·         The password can contain the following ASCII text characters: ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + - = { } | [ ] \ : " ; ' < > ? , . /

 

C. Password Protection Standards

Do not use the same password for Dominican University accounts as for other non-Dominican University access (e.g., personal ISP account, option trading, benefits, etc.). Where possible, don't use the same password for various Dominican University access needs. For example, select one password for your network account and a separate password for your Jenzabar account.

 

Do not share Dominican University passwords with anyone, including administrative assistants or secretaries. All passwords are to be treated as sensitive, confidential Dominican University information.

 

Here is a list of "dont's":

 

·         Don't reveal a password over the phone to ANYONE

·         Don't reveal a password in an email message

·         Don't reveal a password to the boss

·         Don't talk about a password in front of others

·         Don't hint at the format of a password (e.g., "my family name")

·         Don't reveal a password on questionnaires or security forms

·         Don't share a password with family members

·         Don't reveal a password to co-workers while on vacation

 

If someone demands a password, refer them to this document or have them call someone in the Information Technology Department.

 

Do not use the "Remember Password" feature of applications.

 

Again, do not write passwords down and store them anywhere in your office. Do not store passwords in a file on ANY computer system (including Palm Pilots or similar devices) without encryption.

 

Change passwords at least once every twelve months (except system-level passwords which must be changed quarterly). The recommended change interval is every four months.

 

If an account or password is suspected to have been compromised, report the incident to the Information Technology HelpDesk and change all passwords.

 

Password cracking or guessing may be performed on a periodic or random basis by the Information Technology department or its delegates. If a password is guessed or cracked during one of these scans, the user will be required to change it.

 

D. Application Development Standards

Application developers must ensure their programs contain the following security precautions.

Applications:

·         should support authentication of individual users, not groups.

·         should not store passwords in clear text or in any easily reversible form.

·         should provide for some sort of role management, such that one user can take over the functions of another without having to know the other's password.

·         should support Active Directory or JICS security retrieval, wherever possible.

 

E. Use of Passwords and Passphrases for Remote Access Users

Access to the Dominican University Networks via remote access is to be controlled using VPN with a strong password.

 

F. Passphrases

Passphrases are generally used for public/private key authentication. A public/private key system defines a mathematical relationship between the public key that is known by all, and the private key, that is known only to the user. Without the passphrase to "unlock" the private key, the user cannot gain access.

 

Passphrases are not the same as passwords. A passphrase is a longer version of a password and is, therefore, more secure. A passphrase is typically composed of multiple words. Because of this, a passphrase is more secure against "dictionary attacks."

 

A good passphrase is relatively long and contains a combination of upper and lowercase letters and numeric and punctuation characters. An example of a good passphrase:

 

"The*?#>*@TrafficOnThe101Was*&#!#ThisMorning"

 

All of the rules above that apply to passwords apply to passphrases.

 

5.0 Enforcement

Any employee found to have violated this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.

 

6.0 Definitions

 

 

7.0 Revision History