Prerequisites
You can change your password from every centrally administered Unix computer and from every windows machine here at the Department. You can even change your password from a trustworthy computer outside our departmental network using a web browser!
In order to change your password department-wide, you only need to change it
once in either of the following way.
Please pay close attention to the Hints on good passwords below!
Password change via web interface
On our
Portal website, you can log in with your Department account and password. If you klick on the "Password" tab then, you are guided to a form where you can change your password.
SECURITY ADVICE!
Please do only start this password change via browser from a trustworthy, well-administered and patched computer and not from, for example, a PC in an Internet Café! Otherwise you risk your keystrokes being monitored and thus your password getting into wrong hands!
Password change on computers running Linux OS
see "Password change via web interface"
Password change on computers running MS Windows flavours
Please press
<strg> + <alt> + <del>.
and follow the dialog.
How to choose a good password
- Please do adhere to the following security measures in order to minimize the risk of your account being "cracked" by an attacker.
- Important:
- Do not "recycle": Don't use a password you have ever used before (regardless of where it had been in use)
- No dictionary: Never use a word or expression as a password that can also be found on the Internet or in a dictionary (neither an English nor any other dictionary)
- Careful with post-its or other notes: Avoid, as far as possible, writing down of passwords. But if you have to, then
- Never note your account name and password in the same place
- Do under no circumstances deposit the note with your password somewhere near to your computer
- Suggestion for a way to choose a strong password that is easy to memorize: Choose a sentence, maybe even a nonsense-sentence (they can be better memorized!), and pick the first letter of every word in that sentence to build your password. To make it perfect, "blend in" (or replace) at least one letter with a special character (e.g. punctuation mark) and at least one letter with a digit ('0', '1', …, '9')
- Should you encounter unexpected Problems while or after changing the password, please contact us!