General Password Advice:

• Don't share your password with ANYONE.
• Do not email your password to anyone asking for it, even if they claim to be from a Help Desk or from the college administration.
• A good, strong password contains both uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols; but does not contain your own name, your username, or your date of birth.
• (More information on safe computing.)

NetID Passwords:

• You do not need to change your password periodically (though we recommend you do so every semester)
• Your password must be at least 8 characters long
• Your password must contain at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number, and one symbol
• Your password cannot contain your NetID

CUNY Portal Passwords:

• You do not need to change your password periodically (though we recommend you do so every semester)
• Your password must be at least 6 characters long

CUNYfirst Passwords:

• You must change your password every 90 days
• You cannot use any of the last 4 passwords
• Your password must be at least 8 characters long
• Your password must contain at least one uppercase letter, and at least one number OR one symbol

SIMS Passwords (Faculty/Staff ONLY!):

• You must change your password every 45 days
• You cannot repeat any of your last 12 passwords
• Your password must contain at least one number, but cannot start with a number
• Your password must be exactly 8 characters long
• Your password cannot contain symbols--only letters and numbers
• (More information on changing passwords in SIMS)

For information on passwords for other systems, you will need to contact the organization responsible for that system.  It may be your department, your school, or an outsourced vendor.