UAA is concerned about the increasing problem of electronic identity theft.  There is a real possibility for UAA students and employees to have their UAA usernames and passwords stolen.  This would potentially permit unauthorized users to have access to your personal information that resides within UAA services such as electronic mail systems, computers, and increasingly other financial and student information systems throughout the University of Alaska system. 

 

    We are announcing today the implementation of a strong password standard for UAA passwords.  UAA is adopting a NIST2 standard (www.nist.gov) for strong passwords which will make passwords much more difficult to guess by hackers using automated tools.  This change will affect all students and employees at UAA regardless of campus affiliation.  This new standard will require all UAA users to eventually change their existing passwords to one that has the following characteristics:

 

-       A minimum of 8 characters in length

-       Require at least one uppercase, one lowercase and one numeric character

-       Not include the apostrophe, quote or plus character (‘, “, or +)

-       Not include words commonly found in dictionaries

-       Not include any variation of the username

-       Not include known information (e.g., SSN and date of birth)

 
    A password history of 5 will be implemented meaning that users cannot use the same password within 5 times of previous use.  User access will be suspended for three minutes after 5 successive failed login attempts.  Also, passwords will have a 400 day lifetime.  As we initiate this new standard, users who have not changed their current password for 400 days will be notified to immediately change their passwords to the new standard.  In the future, users will be notified by email 20 days prior to password expiration of their need to change their passwords.

    We highly recommend customers update their password to the current standard for their own security. Customers can change their password at the Username website:

http://username.uaa.alaska.edu

   
    First time customers will be directed to a page with security questions. Three of these security questions need to be answered to access the Welcome page. Should a customer forget their password, there is a Forgot Your Password button on the main Username website. All questions the customer has answered will be displayed; however, the customer need only remember one of the answers to reset their password. Once successfully logged into the Username website, there is a change password link on the Welcome page. Following the guidelines mentioned above, this site will allow customers to update their password to the current standard.