That's it??? Arguments can be made for changing passwords from between 30 and 90 days. Each argument has valid points which I will not elaborate on again since it's been beaten to death. 30 to 90 is fine but you need to make sure there is complexity involved. The harder the complexity the more valid the argument for 90 days so users won't be tempted to write it down. I wouldn't exceed more than 90 ever but I prefer 30. A combination of Capital and lowercase letters, Numbers and Symbols. Require 3 out of the 4 minimum. Make a minimum length of 7. If you are using LANMan make it 7 not 8 since 7 is harder to crack for LANMan other reasons that I also won't go into. You should have a password history as well. I prefer 12 so that people can slightly change the password to be Passw0rd1, Passw0rd2, .... Run enforcement onthese policies and run password checkers to verify.
IMHO, 30 days is best. I've had 30 days with these rules and users are fine. At first people tend to kick and scream but if you reduce the times in increments of say 15 days every 3 months people don't notice the difference. Good Password - N0t*N0w, Abs0lutely%, Bad Password - tuxedo, names, birthdates, License plates, names, pets, anything in a dictionary (incl foreign languages, klingon, etc.), anything identifiable or guessable about a person, phone #'s, etc. > -----Original Message----- > From: ullmic6 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 2:02 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: passwords > > > Hello all, > > one of the favorite subjects in my company seems to be the > strength of passwords. We force our users to change their > mail password every 90 days. Does this make sense? Why? > > -- > ullmic > > > ********************************************************************** This message is a PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL communication, and is intended only for the individual(s) named herein or others specifically authorized to receive the communication. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender of the error immediately, do not read or use the communication in any manner, destroy all copies, and delete it from your system if the communication was sent via email. **********************************************************************
