Password Protection Reminder Spring 2008

Under no circumstances should users disclose their passwords to anyone especially through email. It has come to our attention that some colleges and universities are experiencing targeted spam emails, also known as spear phishing, requesting users to send their email user ids and passwords in a reply email. The emails appear to originate from their respective campus Information Technology (IT) department and provide a false context for the department requiring users to provide their email account credentials.

Loyola Marymount University has not received any of these types of emails at this time; however, the LMU IT department wants to remind the campus community that the IT department will not ask users to provide their passwords in person, over the phone, or in an email. Furthermore, passwords can always be reset safely in Manegate (http://manegate.lmu.edu) or by using the change password command on Windows-based computers accessible by pressing the Ctrl-Alt-Delete buttons and clicking on the Change Password button.

As a reminder, passwords are required to be changed every 180 days with the exception of Oracle Finance passwords, which must be changed every 30 days.

If anyone ever asks you to disclose your password, please contact David Meske, Director of Information Security and Compliance at 310.338.5246 or secureit@lmu.edu.