Changing Your E-Mail/Network Password

Why? How? Where? What if it Expires?

• WHY DO STUDENTS HAVE TO CHANGE THEIR E-MAIL/NETWORK PASSWORDS?
• HOW WILL THE ACCOUNT CHANGE PROCESS WORK?
• HOW AND WHERE TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD?
• WHAT TO DO IF YOUR E-MAIL/NETWORK PASSWORD EXPIRES?

• THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR !!

WHY DO STUDENTS HAVE TO CHANGE THEIR E-MAIL/NETWORK PASSWORDS?

• To increase password security for all Mercyhurst E-Mail / Network accounts:
  • It was determined last spring to require all account passwords to expire after 180 days
  • Users' new passwords need to meet new complexity requirements to insure more secure and stronger passwords.

• The network has always kept track of the age of individual's passwords
• how long it has been since your password was last changed?
• Over 80% of student passwords are older than 180 days

HOW WILL THE ACCOUNT CHANGE PROCESS WORK?

NOTIFICATIONS:

• Mid-September students will receive an e-mail about scheduled account changes

• Students will be notified by a second e-mail one week prior to account changes

ALL STUDENTS SHOULD RESET THEIR E-MAIL/NETWORK PASSWORDS AT THIS TIME

• Students will be notified by a final e-mail one day prior to account changes

 

ACCOUNT CHANGES - WEEK of October 8th (8th - 12th)

• Each day a number of accounts will have the '180 day expiration' option turned on
• All accounts with passwords over 180 days old will be locked out of e-mail and network accounts
• Students who changed their passwords will see no effect on the account

HOW AND WHERE TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD?

HOW & WHERE TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD

http://ehelp.mercyhurst.edu/network/faqs/faq5.html

YOU MUST KNOW YOUR OLD / CURRENT PASSWORD TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD !

NEW PASSWORD COMPLEXITY REQUIRMENTS

• Minimum 8 characters
• Contain 3 of 4 elements (Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers, Symbols)
• Cannot use part of your username in password
• Cannot use same password for 4 consecutive password changes
• 4 invalid logon attempts locks account for 30 minutes
• Can change password only once a day

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR E-MAIL/NETWORK PASSWORD EXPIRES?

LOGON TO A MERCYHURST CAMPUS COMPUTER

• Your Log on location will be MERCYHURST
• Use your old / current password
• You will be prompted to create a new password

THIS IS THE ONLY PASSWORD CHANGE PROCESS YOU CAN USE ONCE YOUR PASSWORD HAS EXPIRED!!

CONTACT THE RES-TECH FOR YOUR DORM/APARTMENT AREA

• Who is my Res-Tech?
• You will need your username and old / current password
• You will need a new password that meets the new complexity requirements

CONTACT THE MERCYHURST IT HELPDESK (x3200)

• You will need your username and old / current password
• You will need a new password that meets the new complexity requirements

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR !

• SOPHOS - If you installed your Sophos antivirus software from Mercyhurst, You will need to change the password for Sophos Updates to match your E-Mail/Network password. Sophos will no longer update if you do not change the password to match.

  Changing Your Sophos Update Password

• Password Expiration (in 180 days) - When you logon to a Mercyhurst computer will you be notified that your password will expire in 14 days or less.
  • OFF_CAMPUS in OWA - Normally, when a user's password is about to expire, there will be a little yellow notification banner in OWA stating that " Your password will expire in x days".x is the number of days left before expiring.

• Changing your e-mail/network password has no effect on you BlackBoard & WebAdvisor passwords.