How to Create a Strong Password

Overview

The information below outlines how to create a strong password for your Duck ID and other accounts.

Information

When selecting a new password, please follow these guidelines:

• Must be between eight and 127 characters in length.
• Must contain at least three of the following four items: a number, an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, a special character.
• Must not contain your Duck ID, first name, preferred first name, nickname, middle name, last name, preferred last name, UO ID (95#), or the characters < or >.
• Must not be one of your last three passwords.
• Must not be the same password as another account for a different service.
• Must be different than the past three used passwords for the same account.

To select a password you can easily remember, follow these tips:

• Use a passphrase or sentence that makes sense to you (e.g., Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.)
• Converting an easy-to-remember phrase into an acronym with symbols is also a good strategy. It is a very fine day could be abbreviated to iiavfd, and then by adding two non-alphabetic characters, would become a valid password of iia44fd.
• Choose a word, then scramble it with some random numbers (e.g., buffalo becomes Bu3fa2o).

Here are some examples of good and bad passwords:

• Roses are periwinkle, violets are orange is a good password. HelloThere1! is not.
• o8at45m5ea74l is a good password. oatmeal22 is not. 
• g2du75ks is a good password. goducks98 is not.