Everyone with access to Trinity systems has a responsibility to do what they can to insure data security. Whether it's making sure you don't leave your unattended machine logged on or not sharing your password with others, it's important to remember that security is something in which we all participate.
Every 120 days you will be required to change your password. 10 days, 5 days, and 1 day before your password is set to expire, an e-mail notification will go out to remind you to change it. We highly recommend that you don't wait, but change your password before you leave for the day. To do this, browse to the website http://password.trincoll.edu and follow the script.
If you've experienced any difficulty in changing your password, please contact the Help Desk. Please see the Overview and Hours page for more information.
Selecting a Password
Choosing and maintaining an appropriate network password is one of the most basic and effective ways of securing on-line data. There is a bit of an art to it. You need to create a string that is reasonably cryptic and yet still easy enough to recall so it doesn't need to be written down. And you must also change it regularly, so even after going through the exercise of coming up with a good secure password you can't keep it too long.
In order to help insure the security of the passwords, several requirements are imposed by our system. They must be a minimum of 7 characters long, and must include at least three of the following:
- lower-case characters (a-z)
- upper-case characters (A-Z)
- digits 0-9
- special characters ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & ( ) * - + = | \ { } [ ] : ; " ' < > , . ? /
Passwords can be changed once a day, and a history is maintained to prevent repeated and predictable use of the same password.
Macintosh users please note: You should not select a password longer than 8 characters. Network file servers won't work with longer ones.
Here are a few tips for creating good passwords.
Dos:
Start with a sentence or phrase, and take the first letter of each word and add numbers and/or symbols
my dog Sparky is four years old becomes mdSi4yo
Use random capitalization:
EBs45kc becomes eBS45Kc
Employ character substitution for sounds:
waits becomes w8s
Before becomes b4
Incorporate phonetic spellings:
laugh becomes laf
weight becomes wat
Don'ts:
Include personal information like your initials, name, nickname, phone extension or home number, children's names etc.
Use of common characters or place names from literature or mythology.
Use words that appear in a dictionary.
If you employ the rules above, you can invent good secure passwords. Here an example:
"Time waits for no one" becomes tW8S4no1