Password on Math Computers

It is important to keep our Math Network secure. One aspect involves changing your password on the computers in our systems. Following are some of the rules we have established for passwords.

  1. The password should be different than your password on other computer networks including the password for your NU netid (modem pool). It definitely should not be used at another university.
  2. Your password should be at least 8 characters long. It should NOT be (a) in any dictionary (any language), (b) a place name, or (c) anyone's name or nickname. Also dates, street addresses and license plate numbers are a bad idea. Punctuation marks, digits, and even most control characters are allowed in passwords, but do not just replace letters with symbols that look alike such as letter O with number 0, like in "passw0rd".
  3. Northwestern requires the use of some characters which are not letters, and this is a good idea on our system too, but not absolutely required. Passwords are case-sensitive, i.e., capital letters are distinguished from lower case letters.
  4. Passphrases: A way to get s strong password, hard to guess but easy to remember, is to pick a sentence and construct a password from parts of it. For example, "SW&t7d's" stands for the phrase ``Snow White and the seven dwarfs''.

To change your password on the Math computer system you can use any of the following methods:

  1. Visit your computer system administrator (currently in Lunt 203), who will help you with the password change on the main server and further propagation to the Math system (note that the former yppasswd command is no longer functional).
     
  2. Alternatively you can change your password using the electronic form at the bottom of the following page (you will need to login with your current username and password, and possibly use VPN if you are outside the NU network): Change Password

 

If you have any questions ask our System Administrator.

Written by Clark Robinson, March 4, 1998
Updated by Miguel A. Lerma: 9/7/1999, 8/29/2001, 8/13/2009, 5/11/2016, 12/11/2017, 3/20/2018