Passwords are an important characteristic of computer security. A poorly constructed, weak password may result in unauthorized access or exploitation of organization IT resources. This password construction guideline applies to all passwords, including (but not limited to) user-level accounts, system-level accounts, web accounts, email accounts, and local router logins. On a Windows system, you can run secpol.msc from the Command Prompt:
Strong passwords have the following characteristics:
- They contain at least twelve alphanumeric characters
- They contain both upper and lowercase letters
- They contain at least one number (for example, 0-9)
- They contain at least one special character (for example, !$%^*()_+|~-=\`{}[]:";'?,/)
Following are some of the password policies we must remember:
- Protect your password: It is very challenging to remember...
