Currently, K-Staters are required to change their eID password every 180 days. On Wednesday, April 8, K-State’s eID password standards are changing. With these updated standards, most K-Staters will need to change their passwords only one more time.
What do I need to do?
Right now, nothing. Before the change, you received an email every 180 days, reminding you to change your password. After April 8, the next time you get the reminder email, change your password using the new password standards. After that password change, you will not need to change your password again unless your password becomes compromised. Keep the following in mind:
- If you change your password before April 8, you will receive a 180-day reminder email and will be required to change your password again. After that password change, you will not need to change your password again unless your password becomes compromised.
- If you are required to change your password more often because of the job you perform, you will still need to follow those job-specific password guidelines.
New password standards
Under K-State’s new password standards, your password must meet the following criteria:
- A minimum of 15 to a maximum of 100 characters in length
- Must be significantly different from previous passwords
- May contain spaces but cannot start or end with a space
- Cannot be a single dictionary word
- Cannot be repetitive or sequential (e.g. ‘aaaaaaaaa,’’12345abcd’)
- Cannot be your name, username, K-State term, or name of a service
- Cannot use a previously compromised password
Recommendations
You are no longer required to use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, or special characters in your password. Instead, consider using a passphrase. A passphrase is a sentence-like string of words used for authentication. It’s typically longer than a password, easier to remember, and more difficult to crack. You can use an easy to remember song lyric or quotation for your passphrase.
For example, the song lyric “KSU, we’ll carry thy banner high, KSU, long, long may thy colors fly.” This lyric could be used as a passphrase, WellCarryThyBannerHigh.
K-State established the updated password standards using the National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines, NIST 800-63B.
To learn more about K-State’s eID password policies, view the eID password FAQs webpage.
