Mandatory Password Reset on Wednesday, April 26

Brian D. Voss, Interim Vice President and Chief Information Officer
April 24, 2017

In an effort to ensure the security and integrity of access to Clemson’s information technology environment, CCIT will be requiring everyone to change their passwords effective Wednesday, April 26.  There is no active cybersecurity threat that necessitates this action, but in light of previous phishing attacks we have a concern that some accounts may have been compromised, but held in waiting for a later time to make unauthorized use of them. Though we do not take the impact of this lightly, we want to close this vulnerability by having everyone make a password change now.

Upon your next login to a Clemson University system after 8 AM on Wednesday, April 26, you will be prompted to change your password. If you are urgently trying to get into a system and don’t have time at that moment, you will be given three opportunities to “pass” before being required to change your password to access the environment.  As part of this change, CCIT has developed a new password change utility that will help you judge the strength of your chosen new password.  You will be required to use a ‘strong’ password using this utility once prompted to make this change.

Any password changes prior to Wednesday at 8 AM will still require a change after that time and must meet the password strength requirements. Please do not change your password until prompted on Wednesday.

We understand that changing passwords, especially on short notice and during this time of year can present a challenge.  However, safeguarding the security and integrity of Clemson’s information and IT assets is of critical importance to everyone.  We appreciate your efforts to help the University in this way.