One of the most important actions you can take to protect you and your information from hackers is to have a strong password that is difficult to guess. A strong password is a password that is long and contains a good mix of letters, numbers, special characters, and both upper- and lowercase letters.
Passwords are case sensitive.
Password requirements are as follows:
Passwords must be at least 12 characters in length.
Passwords must contain at least one of the following:
■ Uppercase alphabet character (eg. A, C, Q, etc.);
Special character (eg. *, %, !, etc.); or
■ Numeric character (eg. 1,2,4, etc.)
Must not contain any part of your account name
Cannot match any of your last 3 passwords
Passwords shall be treated as confidential information and shall not be shared with anyone.
Passwords will only be administered to the user of the account after proper verification.
All passwords must be promptly changed if they are suspected or known to have been disclosed to unauthorized parties. Should your account become compromised and damage occurs, you will be held accountable. Therefore, it is your responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of your password.
After three (3) failed password attempts, you will be locked out of your account.
Password-protected screen savers are mandated on all University-owned computers and are set to a maximum timeout of fifteen (15) minutes.
Password must not be written down, hidden under a keyboard, or taped to a monitor. Use a password manager that uses encryption if you need to store it.
Passwords should not be emailed with usernames.
Never save your password in a web form or use the “remember password” feature of applications.
Do not use the same password for other non-KSU accounts.
IT will never ask you for your password.
When IT needs to work on your computer, please make arrangements to be available to type in your password as needed.
KSU passwords will expire every 180 days. You will be prompted to change your password with a grace period login notice, which will be sent fourteen (14) days prior to the expiration of your password. Passwords that are not changed before the grace period ends will expire, and you will not be able to access your account.