Guidance

Password guidance: simplifying your approach

Advice for system owners responsible for determining password policy

From:
CESG and Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure
Published
8 September 2015

This publication was withdrawn on

This content has been moved to the CESG website: https://www.cesg.gov.uk/guidance/password-guidance-simplifying-your-approach

Documents

Password guidance: executive summary

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Password guidance - simplifying your approach

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Password guidance - infographic

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Details

This guidance contains advice for system owners responsible for determining password policy. It is not intended to protect high value individuals using public services.

It advocates a dramatic simplification of the current approach at a system level, rather than asking users to recall unnecessarily complicated passwords.

More specifically, this document will help you to:

  • examine and (if necessary) challenge existing corporate password policies, and argue for a more realistic approach
  • understand the decisions to be made when determining password policy
  • implement strategies that lessen the workload that complex passwords impose on users
  • make your system more secure by suggesting a number of practical steps you can implement.

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Published 8 September 2015

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