Our recommendations for good passwords
Passwords play an important role for security. You should therefore ensure that you choose a strong password and use it correctly.
In this article, we would like to give you some help for selecting a good password:
In this article, we would like to give you some help for selecting a good password:
Selecting the password
- If possible, the password should contain at least 8 characters. The longer the selected password, the more secure it is against abuse.
- It should contain different characters as well as special characters and capitalization.
- The password should not contain any personal data.
- It should not be a word that is found in the dictionary.
- The password should never be the same as the user ID. It should not be easily recognizable when it is entered.
- The password should be changed immediately if the possibility exists that it was made public.
Good passwords
- Contain upper and lower case letters
- Contain numbers and special characters
- Are easy to remember so that you do not have to write them down
(example: abbreviation of a sentence with special characters: "My password is easy to remember" becomes "$Mp&ietm+" )
Examples of "dangerous" passwords
- Own name (names)
- Name of a partner, parent, child, friend or similar
- Name of a pet
- Words from the dictionary
- Consists only of one letter
- Telephone numbers or birthdays
- License plates or PIN codes
- Personal data (for example, Zodiac sign, hobby or similar)
- Easy to type sequences (for example, "qwertyui" or "asdf1234")
Rules for handling passwords
- Every user, employee, service, etc. should have an individual password.
- Passwords should be changed every 6 months or more often.
- Preset passwords (for example, the order number) should be changed the first time they are used.
- You should not (re)use old passwords.
- Do not save passwords with programmable function keys or in scripts.
- Do not write down passwords and "hide" them at your workspace.
- Password files (on systems) must have additional protection.
Using special characters
When using special characters, it should be guaranteed that the same code table is configured on every computer that you enter the password on.
Note for passwords on STRATO servers: Due to technical restrictions, the following 4 characters may not be used on STRATO servers / \ ‘ “ (slash, backslash, apostrophe, quotation marks)