Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Create Strong Passwords

1. Use Unique Passwords: 

• UMBC requires all students and staff to have a strong password for their account to help keep it secure. Find the UMBC requirements for creating strong passwords here.

2. Do Not Reuse Passwords:

• Use different secure passwords for all of your personal, banking, and UMBC accounts. If one password were to appear in a data breach that you actively use in other accounts, attackers may try to use this password to access these accounts.

• A password manager can be used to manage your different passwords easily. For an additional level of security for sensitive accounts, you can store part of the password in the password manager and add additional characters to the password when you are logging in. 

3. Do Not Use Similar Passwords:

• When changing your password, UMBC will not let you use a password that has been previously set.

• Refrain from using your old passwords and slightly modifying them. For example, if your previous password was D0gL0vEr1, do not change the new password to D0gL0vEr2. This makes it easier for the hacker to guess the new password if they already know the previous password.

For more information about UMBC’s cybersecurity initiatives, go to doit.umbc.edu/security.