Your HawkID provides access to a lot of sensitive information. Someone with your password can access your personal e-mail, bank information and student data such as grades and schedules. Protecting this sensitive information about you and others is very important. The University has many security measures in place to keep passwords protected. Some of these security measures may seem like a hassle, but we feel it is important to make sure that sensitive and private information is kept secure rather than to provide a risky convenience.

Things you can do to keep your password safe

You should avoid writing down your password. If you must, store it in a safe place (don't tape it to your monitor). You will want to make sure that you pick a good password that uses a combination of letters, numbers and punctuation marks. Try to avoid using names or dictionary words. Scientific words aren't exempt either.

It sounds obvious, but don't tell other people your password - even if this person is a trusted colleague or spouse. This is one of the more common causes of account abuse. Even if you trust a person today, you might regret it later on! If you need to give access to something in your account, please visit the delegation page for information on how to give out access without giving out your password.

HawkID delegation page

It is important to make sure your own computer is free of viruses and spyware. Many new viruses (and spyware) tend to run programs called "keyloggers" which track your keystrokes and send them to hackers. Antivirus software and Antispyware software is heavily recommended. You can visit the ITS Help Desk security page for details.

ITS Help Desk security page

Remember, once someone has your password, they can access everything on your Hawk ID account!

What we are doing to keep your password safe

Our goal is to make sure that when you transmit your password to a HawkID system, it is done in a secure, encrypted manner. That way, anyone eavesdropping on your connection can't grab your password.

Our security measures include policies to ensure that you pick good passwords and change them on occasion. You have to change your password once every 6 months (180 days) and your password has to fit the following rules:

• Your password needs to be changed at least once every 180 days. If you don't change your password, it will "expire" which means that you will not be able to use your account until you change your password.
• For most, your password has to be at least 6 characters long. (For some people, such as those with administrative privileges on University workstations, a password of at least 15 characters is required.)
• You'll need a password that has both numbers and letters, at least two of each.
• When you change your password, you need to pick a completely different one. Old passwords, or passwords that contain parts of old passwords, won't work.

Tips for picking a good password

We will not e-mail you a password (nor will we ask for it over e-mail). If you need your password reset via phone, we will only reset it for the owner of the account. We will not give the password to someone like a parent, colleague, assistant or spouse.

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