In response to escalating threats to information security, the Office of Information Technology is working on multiple fronts to strengthen protections. One of the steps we will be taking is to require that UCInetID passwords be changed annually.

Your UCInetID is your key to UCI online services. Use of a UCInetID and password by anyone other than you can result in exploitation of UCI resources, loss of personal and university information, and other potentially negative consequences.

There is a plethora of “malware” on the Internet: on web sites, downloaded via email, and on potentially infected public computers. This software often quietly collects passwords for later use by unscrupulous individuals. The longer you use a given password, the greater the chance it may be captured and misused. Changing it periodically helps you insulate yourself before a thief has an opportunity to use it.

Between January and June 2016, we will be incrementally rolling out a process to require changing UCInetID passwords older than one year. You will receive a series of email notifications starting one month before the change is required. Once that month has passed, a UCInetID whose password has not been changed will be deactivated. It will then need to be re-activated via an online process.

Although UCI Google and Office 365 passwords are not yet linked to UCInetID passwords, we recommend that you change all of these annually as well.

We appreciate your support of this new policy and other security initiatives. Given the imperfect protection that passwords provide, we are also working to implement expanded use of “multifactor authentication”. This involves exchanging a token with a smartphone or other device in addition to entering a password when accessing sensitive campus resources.

For additional information on the new password policy, including advice on choosing a good password, please see www.oit.uci.edu/ucinetid/password-policy/. If you have additional questions, please contact the OIT Help Desk (oit@uci.edu, 949-824-2222).