UT EID password changes required
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All UT EID holders are required to be compliant with new stricter password requirements. Users should upgrade their password now at the following URL: http://www.utexas.edu/its/eid/. Deadlines for these upgrades will be staggered and communicated via e-mail one week prior to an individual’s deadline, with the first student deadline occurring Sept. 27. Faculty and staff upgrades have been ongoing and will continue until the end of October. If you do not complete the upgrade to your UT EID password or claim a PADlock, you will be unable to use services that require these credentials.
A new electronic identity process, part of a three-tiered process that in some cases requires the use of a secondary password for high security online transactions, will go into effect during September and October at The University of Texas at Austin.
The new process will be begin Sept. 13 and continue for the next three to five weeks.
“The new three-part process will better protect students, faculty, staff and other members of the university community from identity theft and improve their collaboration abilities,” said Dan Updegrove, the university’s vice president for information technology.
“As more and more services are moved to an online environment, the challenges of combating people with ill intentions become more complex and the importance of managing one’s electronic identity takes on greater importance,” Updegrove added. “In response to the need for collaboration abilities coupled with increased security, The University of Texas at Austin has created a new system for managing your electronic identity.”
The three components for managing electronic identity are:
“In the past, the UT EID has been used as a private username on campus,” Updegrove said. “Its designation as a public username will enable increased collaboration through online applications such as Blackboard and Webspace. UT EIDs will serve as a means of electronic identification allowing the users assigned those UT EIDs to freely provide this identifier to others in order to share information.
“Using the UT EID in this manner will add the convenience of real-time information exchange and academic collaboration.”
He said this convenience factor is being balanced with steps to secure the privacy of individuals to whom the UT EIDs have been assigned.
“The solution is a required robust password for your UT EID,” Updegrove said. “Hacking and brute force attacks are rising dramatically and precautions must be taken to create passwords that are difficult to break. To this end, all UT EID holders will be required to have their passwords meet stricter requirements.”
This upgrade, which is explained at http://www.utexas.edu/its/eid/, involves the use of various numerals or symbols to create a more complex password that is not as easy for hackers to ascertain.
“Defining the UT EID as the public username is integral to the efforts to reduce the use and display of Social Security numbers on campus. We now have a unique identifier, which can be displayed on paperwork that is generated daily at the university,” said Jeff Graves, associate vice president for institutional complianceand legal affairs. “This is important to everyone, because as identity theft increases, it becomes imperative that the primary identifier used on campus is not one that has inherent value outside of the institution.”
In order to comply with recent federal and state legislation and improve the electronic security environment, the university has implemented the new Personal Access Device Lock (PADlock). PADlock is a second password that will be required for especially secure transactions. PADlock is claimed and created on-line and self-managed through a list of personal questions and answers known only to the user. Only individuals with high assurance EIDs will be able to claim a PADlock.
Instructions for updating your UT EID password can be found online at http://www.utexas.edu/its/eid/.
If you have any questions or concerns, contact the ITS Help Desk at help@its.utexas.edu.
