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NCSAM reminder: 黑料社区 3 tips for creating strong passwords
Let's take a look at some of the ways you can practice stronger password management hygiene.
Published
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NCSAM reminder: 黑料社区 3 tips for creating strong passwords
Published
•
As National Cybersecurity Awareness Month continues, this is an opportune time to make sure you are following good password practices and keeping your account logins as strong as possible.
Let’s take a look at some ways the Miami community can strengthen their passwords and make sure accounts are secure:
1. Follow Miami password guidelines
The Information Security Office (ISO) has published a set of guidelines for maintaining a good password for your Miami account. At Miami, your password is required to have:
- At least 16 characters
- Upper and lower case letters
Aside from those requirements, a general rule to follow is to also include special characters and numbers. One of the most important things to remember, though, is that , the stronger it is. For instance, passphrases (which consist of full or parts of sentences) are easy for you to remember but harder for a threat actor—like the “correct horse battery staple” approach from .
2. Update Password Recovery Options in accounts portal
In addition to following good password generation practices, it's also important to know how to recover your password if in fact you do forget or lose it. Having up-to-date personal contact information in our accounts portal is essential!
You need to have up-to-date contact information in order to perform a self-service password reset (in other words, if you forget your password and want to recover it yourself). Help your future self by taking the time to update your non-Miami email address and phone number now!
Instructions to update this information can be found in the Miami Knowledge Base: .
To update your recovery options, please visit: or search for the “MUnet Accounts” tile in myMiami.
3. Use a password manager
One of the best ways to ensure your login information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands is to make long, strong, individual passwords for each account. A survey conducted in 2024 by Nordpass found that the average internet user has of 168 online accounts—who has the capacity to remember that many different passwords?
A password manager can help here. Not only will it help you remember your passwords, but you can also set it to be accessible by your loved ones if they need to access your accounts for a reason in the future. (Digital estate planning is an important activity!)
Your password manager can also help you generate strong passwords (with or without special characters).
Stay vigilant!
Don't forget that any steps you take toward better account security are additive—any little bit counts! Stay safe out there this NCSAM season!
CyberMania: Help us win!
Don't forget to help us beat Ohio University and prove that Miami is the most cybersecure school in Ohio!
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Join Us: Cybersecurity Events
Find us in the Armstrong Student Center in Oxford on Fridays in October and at the Regionals on select dates to learn more about information security! Stop by to learn about how you can better protect yourself, your information, and your devices, as well as meet Miami’s information security staff and spin the prize wheel.
- Oxford, Armstrong Student Center: Oct. 3, 17, 24, 31 | 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Hamilton, Schwarm Commons: Oct. 15 | 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Middletown, Johnston Hall: Oct. 20 | 11:15 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.
