Creating Strong Passwords

Creating Strong Passwords

OMCA follows Microsoft Active Director Policy for Network Passwords

Passwords must meet the following complexity requirements
  1. Passwords cannot contain your username (i.e. Smith9j)
  2. Password cannot contain your full name (John Smith)
  3. Passwords must be longer then 10 characters in length
  4. Passwords must contain at least one of the following:
    1. upper-case letter (A through Z)
    2. lower-case letter (a through z)
    3. number (0 through 9)
    4. special characters (for example: !, @, #, $, %, etc.)
OMCA uses many hosted applications that have their own password policies.  If you have questions about other application password policies please contact the Technology Department at support@museumca.org.

Strong Password Tips

Strong passwords are more secure. Passwords that are easy for you to remember are also less secure than a completely random password, following these tips can help you find the right balance between convenience for you and difficulty for hackers.

Keep your password A SECRET.  Never share your password with ANYONE. (this includes significant others, roommates, coworkers, etc.). If you need to grant someone access to your computer, contact the Technology Department by submitting a request to support@museumca.org.
  1. Passphrases can be very easy for you to remember and difficult to hack. Use a combination of letters, numbers and special characters to represent words. Here are some examples of passphrases:
            "myC@tAte4Rat$!"  (my cat ate 4 rats!)
             "Tw0M@nyP4$$words?" (Too many passwords?)
             "2BorNot2B_ThatIsThe?" (To be or not to be, that is the question.)
             "4sCore&7YrsAgo"  (Four Score and Seven Years ago...)
  1. Never write your password down, especially not on a sticky note anywhere near your computer.
  2. Do not store your password in a plain text file on your computer.
  3. Never send your password over an unencrypted connection - including unencrypted email.
Things to avoid
  1. Words you can find in the dictionary.
  2. Passwords identified as "examples of strong passwords."
  3. Personal information, such as names and birth dates.
  4. Keyboard patterns, like qwerty or 12345. Particularly avoid sequences of numbers in order.
  5. Common acronyms.
  6. All one type of character (i.e. all numbers, all upper-case/all lower-case letters, etc.)
  7. Repeating characters (i.e. 'mmmm3333')
  8. The same password you use for another application.
If you ever want to change your password for any reason contact the Technology Department at support@museumca.org

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