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What are the password requirements for Liberty accounts?

All Liberty student, alumni, staff and faculty accounts that were created before a certain date may be prompted automatically to setup the new Automated Password Reset tool and change their current Liberty password.
Note: If your account is not one that is prompted to change your security questions and password and you would like to do so manually, please click here for instructions.

Why do I have to change my password and register the Automated Password Reset tool?

Changing your Liberty password and security questions will help secure Liberty's data and your personal information while complying with Liberty's new password policy and PCI standards.

Also, changing your password to meet the new requirements will lessen the chance of your password being compromised by modern password cracking tools. Studies from Mandylion Research Labs* have shown that a password with 7 characters can be cracked in 102 hours whereas a password with 10 characters takes 2,788 years to crack.

Why does Liberty University have to comply with PCI standards?

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) was created by the PCI Security Standards Council to help thwart the theft of sensitive cardholder information. Any company which stores, processes or transmits payment card data from American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard or Visa has to comply with the PCI DSS.

Since Liberty University accepts credit payments it is considered a Credit Card Merchant by the PCI and must comply with the DSS.

How will I change my password?

You will automatically be prompted to change your password upon logging into the Liberty portal. To see how the process will look, check out the HelpDesk DIY article.

What is the Password Policy?

All Liberty University systems will be accessed via a user account that is protected by a password that meets commonly accepted strength checks to improve protection against hacking attempts, and ensure compliance with Payment Card Industry (credit card merchant) regulations. The table below lists the password requirements for Faculty/Staff and Student Liberty accounts:

Faculty/Staff

Students

Passwords must be a minimum of ten (10) characters in length.
They must contain 1 or more of each of the following character sets:
- Upper case alphabetic (A-Z)
- Lower case alphabetic (a-z)
- Numerals (0-9) and/or Special characters (+ / ! # ^ : . , ~ -)
The alphabetic portion must not be a single common dictionary word. For example, 'Liberty1' is prohibited. Multi-word phrases such as, '2BigBoxes' are allowed.
- These special characters are prohibited: (% _ $ & ; ( ) [ ] { } " ' ` * ? @)
- Faculty & staff must change their passwords every 90 days.
- Password cannot include any part of your username, first name, or last name.
- New password must be different from last 10 used passwords
- Accounts will automatically be locked for 30 minutes after 5 failed password attempts.

Passwords must be a minimum of ten (10) characters in length.
They must contain 1 or more of each of the following character sets:
- Upper case alphabetic (A-Z)
- Lower case alphabetic (a-z)
- Numerals (0-9) and/or Special characters (+ / ! # ^ : . , ~ -)
The alphabetic portion must not be a single common dictionary word. For example, 'Liberty1' is prohibited. Multi-word phrases such as, '2BigBoxes' are allowed.
These special characters are prohibited: (% _ $ & ; ( ) [ ] { } " ' ` * ? @)
Students must change their passwords yearly.
Passwords cannot include any part of your username, first name, or last name.
New password must be different from last 10 used passwords
Accounts will automatically be locked for 30 minutes after 5 failed password attempts

If you are needing to have your Banner password reset, please consult the corresponding article: KB0015457