Strong Password Guidelines

To protect information and resources, the Washington State Department of Information Services requires strong passwords for all user accounts, including Cascadia network accounts.  
 

To be considered “strong,” a password must:

1. Be at least 8 characters long.
2. Contain characters from each of the following groups: 

   Group		Examples
   Letters (uppercase AND lowercase)		A, B, C... AND  a, b, c...
   Numerals		0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...
   Special characters (all characters that are not letters or numerals)		` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & _ + - = { } | [ ] : “ ; ‘ < > ? , .

3. Be significantly different from previously used passwords.

4. NOT contain your name or any part of your full name.

5. NOT contain personal identifiers such as birthdays, social security numbers, or pet’s names.

6. NOT be a word found in the dictionary, even if it is spelled backwards.

Examples of Strong Passwords 

A password should be difficult for someone else to guess but easy for you to remember. A good way to choose a strong password is to take an easily remembered phrase, then combine the first letter of each word in the phrase with numbers or characters (including punctuation and/or spaces). 
 

Creating a password in some way from a phrase from a movie, a quote, a song, or a nursery rhyme can be a good strategy for remembering.

Here are some examples of phrases and passwords (please do not use these examples!):

• Phrase:      I love to drive my 1969 Mustang!
• Password:  Iltdm69M!
•  
• Phrase:      I think, therefore I am
• Password:  {It,t4Ia}
•  
• Phrase:      To be or not to be, that is the question
• Password:   2b0ntb,T1tq
•  
• Phrase:      Password Enforcer
• Password:  -=Pw N4cR=-