Password Requirements & Recommendations Background Image

Password Requirements & Recommendations

Requirements

  • cannot be the same password as any of your last ten (10) passwords
  • must be at least 8 characters long
  • must have at least 2 letters
  • must have both uppercase and lowercase letters
  • must have at least 1 number and 1 special symbol (*SEE BELOW: Valid characters)
  • cannot have more than 2 pairs of repeating characters
  • cannot be or contain the SURF ID or user's real name
  • cannot be or contain the SURF ID or user's real name backwards or rearranged
  • cannot contain spaces (but may use the space character _ ) or,
  • Valid characters* are restricted to the set of characters which can be typed on a standard English (U.S. keyboard)
    • Space ( _ ) character
    • !"#$%&'()*+,-/0123456789:;>=<?@
    • ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\\]^_`
    • abcdefghijklmnopqstuvwxyz{|}~

Recommendations

  • should include at least 16 characters
  • be a passphrase rather than a password (write a full sentence for your password); be sure to misspell a word or two!