Protect your Password

Immediately change your password if you think that it has been revealed to anyone else or compromised.

• You are responsible for safeguarding your username and password, never share these with anyone
• You are accountable for all activity associated with your account, including information accessed, stored or communicated
• Anyone can access your data if you leave your computer or device logged in and unattended. Always lock or log out of your device if you have to step away
• Never use the same password for your university account as you use with a personal account, such as online banking, social media etc
• Don't use the 'Remember Password' feature of websites or applications
• Never write your password down
• Scammers may try to trick you into revealing your username & password via phishing emails or phone calls
  • Never give your password to anyone who asks for it
  • Learn how to spot phishing emails

Strong Passwords

Your password needs to be at least 8 characters long, and include upper and lowercase characters and numbers. Bear in mind that not all systems accept the same special symbols (!£$% etc).

Choose a password that is easily remembered but difficult to guess. Suggestions include:

• Using two unrelated words joined together with numbers replacing some letters
  Common substitutions I = 1, A = 4, S = 5, L = 7, O = 0
  Examples: EggFenc3, PopGRA55, SOF4train
• Using first letter of each word in a memorable phrase, song title, or lyric
  Example: "This may be one way to remember" becomes the password Tmb1w2r
• Skip certain letters in a phrase or word combination
  Examples: JllyRtten4U, DdYouMssM3, RULonsom2n8

Bad Passwords

Scammers may try to guess your password:

• Using information about you that is in the public domain or obtained via social engineering
• From hacking other sites
• By working down a list of common passwords
• Using a brute force attack which uses words from the dictionary, and common letter substitutions

This is why you should never base your password on:

• Your username
• Your first or last name, or nickname
• Your car registration, birthdays, significant dates, names of family or pets, favourite destinations, sports or hobbies
• A number or keyboard patterns like aaabbb, qwerty, zyxwvuts, 1234567, 123321, etc
• Words like "password", "secret", the current month or any variation on these
• An ordinary word preceded or followed by a digit (e.g., 2Rabbits, 1Direction, Whatever4)
• A previous password with an incrementing number (e.g. SamePassword2, SamePassword3)