Password policy

Password Length

Enter a minimum and maximum figure in the relevant boxes. Users must choose passwords whose lengths lie within the range you have specified. The default settings are minimum 6 and maximum 15.

Case and Numerical Settings

Specifying these options can improve password security.  

• Checking Mixed case forces users to include at least one upper case and one lower case letter in their passwords.  

• Checking At least one numerical digit forces users to include at least one numerical digit in their passwords.

Repeating Characters and User name Usage

Specifying these options can make passwords more convenient for users.

• Checking Allow repeating of characters allows users' passwords to include repeating characters. No more than four repetitions of any character are allowed.  

• Checking Allow portion of username allows users' passwords to include [some or all of] their user names.

Password Restrictions

Specifying these options can improve password security.

• Checking Check against previous passwords prevents users from repeating earlier passwords. Type a number into the text box to specify how many previous passwords the system will remember.

• Checking Require password expiry period causes users' passwords to expire after a given number of days. Type the number of days before expiry into the text box.
  Note that system administrators' passwords never expire.

• Checking Require account lockout means that if someone enters an incorrect password a specified number of times, that account will lock, making access impossible. If this happens, the account has to be reset by someone with the correct permissions. Type the number of attempts allowed before lockout into the text box.
  Note that system administrators are never locked out.