As part of the ongoing effort to improve privacy and computer security, UCD is requiring all UC Davis computing accounts to be updated with a new Kerberos passphrase, which has different requirements from the old Kerberos password.  New federal minimum passphrase strength requirements are the impetus for this change. Previous campus password standards, implemented more than 20 years ago, fail to meet these federal requirements. The recently updated UC Davis Security Standards can be reviewed at this link http://manuals.ucdavis.edu/PPM/310/310-22a.pdf.

To meet the federal passphrase strength requirement, campus Kerberos passphrases must be at least 12 characters long. The actual number of characters required to meet the standard will depend upon the characters used, but samples of passphrases that meet the requirement are:

Healthy Cal!
4-H kids thrive
Easy as pie.

Everyone must upgrade to a passphrase by December 2010. Damon DiPietro of CSIT will be in contact with each office to try to move this along smoothly. Waiting until passwords expire could result in a temporary loss of e-mail access and access to UCD systems such as MyTravel.

You will need to know your loginID and current Kerberos password or your password challenge questions.  If you don't know your Kerberos password and haven't set up the password challenge questions, you will need to talk to an IET account proxy (Damon DiPietro or Blaine Sullivan).

When it asks for your employee ID number, if you are not a UC Davis employee you can use your ANR ID from the ANR Portal (http://ucanr.org/portal). It is at the bottom of your Directory Info – in the upper left corner of the page.  It should look like this – ANR000000.  You can also use your social security number.

When you upgrade to a passphrase, you will also need to set the security questions/responses needed to reset an online passphrase if you have not done so previously. The online passphrase reset enables you to set a new passphrase 24/7 even if you've forgotten your old one.

To upgrade, please follow the instructions here:
http://ucanr.org/sites/anrstaff/Communications/Passphrase_Upgrade/

If you have questions or need assistance with this change, please contact Damon DiPietro (dadipietro@ucdavis.edu) or the UCD IT Express Computing Services Help Desk at 530-754-HELP (4357).

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This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.