ePanther Account (Information) Password Complexity Requirements

At times you may have difficulty creating a password that meets the complexity requirements of the UW System Regent's security policy. This article contains the complexity requirements for passwords at UWM.

 

When creating a password for your UWM account, the new password must meet the following complexity requirements. If you do not meet these requirements, your new password will not be saved, you will continue to be prompted to change your password and you may end up locked out of your account. 

  • Password must be at least 14 characters
  • Password cannot match the last 24 passwords
  • Password cannot be changed within 4 hours of your most recent password change 
  • Passwords cannot contain the account holder's ePanther account name or display name
  • The password must contain characters from three of the following five categories:
    • Uppercase letters of European languages (A through Z, with diacritic marks, Greek and Cyrillic characters)
    • Lowercase letters of European languages (a through z, sharp-s, with diacritic marks, Greek and Cyrillic characters)
    • Base 10 digits (0 through 9)
    • Non-alphanumeric characters (special characters): (~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * _ - + = ` | \ ( ) { } ( ) : ; " ' < > , . ? / ) Currency symbols such as the Euro or British Pound aren't counted as special characters for this policy setting.
    • Any Unicode character that's categorized as an alphabetic character but isn't uppercase or lowercase. This group includes characters from Asian languages.

To easily create a memorable password that fits the above requirements:

  1. Use two to four words connected together totaling at least 14 characters, for example: NeverEatSoggyWaffles
  2. Replace at least one letter with a number, for example: Never3atS0ggyWaffles
  3. Replace at least one other letter with a special character, or add a special character to the end of the password, for example: Never3@tS0ggyWaffles!

The final result above meets the password requirements of UWM while being easily memorable. See Microsoft's support article for more detailed information on password creation and management here: Create and Use Strong Passwords 

Additionally, there are multiple ways to save a new password without needing to remember it. Most commonly used web browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Apple Safari have the ability to save and hold your passwords for you. 

For browser specific guides to saving your password, utilize the following links:

Google Chrome: Manage Passwords

Firefox: Autofill Logins on Firefox and Password Manager

Microsoft Edge: Save or Forget Passwords in Microsoft Edge

Apple Safari: How to Find Saved Passwords on Your Mac

For a more centralized view on how to manage passwords in several different browsers, refer to the following KnowledgeBase article: How to - View, Change, and Delete Saved Passwords in a Web Browser



Keywordspassword, requirements, complexity, rules, characters, epanther, passphrase, security, pass word, pass phrase, account, email, digital id, characters   Doc ID51508
OwnerHelp Desk K.GroupUW-Milwaukee Help Desk
Created2015-05-19 10:32:34Updated2024-02-23 11:48:37
SitesUW-Milwaukee Help Desk
Feedback  13   89