Protecting Your System with Passwords

User passwords add an additional level of security to your system. User passwords are used to authenticate individual users and to prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing the system. When an account, group, or user does not have a password, it is said to have a blank password. Without a password, an account or group is open to access by anyone who knows its name.

	NOTE: The System Manager can specify that a password be required by a particular user or it can be left to the discretion of the user when the following option is invoked with the NEWACCT and NEWUSER commands: ;userpass=(req or opt) This option can also be used with the ALTACCT and ALTUSER commands.

To ensure adequate password security, passwords should contain from five to eight alphanumeric characters, beginning with an alphabetic character. When assigning passwords, you should not assign names of friends or relatives. User passwords should be changed quarterly or when someone leaves the organization. All other MPE passwords should be changed every three, six, or twelve months, depending on the data sensitivity on your system.

If you are an account manager, you can assign, change, and list group or user passwords only within your own account.

Use the NEWACCT, NEWGROUP, and NEWUSER commands to create passwords for a new account, group, and user, respectively. Use the ALTACCT, ALTGROUP, and ALTUSER commands to modify existing passwords.