Brokerage Password Policy

PRO — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:50:00 +0000

Password Policy

1.0 Overview

Passwords are an important aspect of computer security. They are the front line of protection for user accounts. A poorly chosen password may result in the compromise of an entire corporate network. As such, all ABC REALTY employees (including contractors and vendors with access to ABC REALTY systems) are responsible for taking the appropriate steps, as outlined below, to select and secure their passwords.

2.0 Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to establish a standard for creation of strong passwords, the protection of those passwords, and the frequency of change.

3.0 Scope

The scope of this policy includes all personnel who have or are responsible for an account (or any form of access that supports or requires a password) on any system that resides at any ABC REALTY facility, has access to the ABC REALTY network, or stores any non-public ABC REALTY information.

4.0 Policy

4.1 General

All system-level passwords (e.g., root, enable, administrator, application administration accounts, etc.) must be changed on at least a quarterly basis.

All production administrator passwords must be part of the ABC REALTY administered global password management database, to be stored in encrypted format and made available only to management staff with a need-to-know.

All user-level passwords (e.g., email, web, desktop computer, etc.) must be changed at least every six months.

User accounts must have a unique password from all other accounts held by that user.

Passwords must not be inserted into email messages or other forms of electronic communication.

All user-level and system-level passwords must conform to the guidelines described below.

4.2 Guidelines

A. General Password Construction Guidelines

Passwords are used for various purposes at ABC REALTY. Some of the more common uses include: user level accounts, web accounts, email accounts, screen saver protection, voicemail password, and local router logins. Since very few systems have support for one-time tokens (i.e., dynamic passwords which are only used once), everyone should be aware of how to select strong passwords.

Poor, weak passwords have the following characteristics:

The password contains less than eight characters
The password is a word found in a dictionary (English or foreign)
The password is a common usage word such as:
Names of family, pets, friends, co-workers, fantasy characters, etc.
Computer terms and names, commands, sites, companies, hardware, software.
The words "ABC REALTY", the name of the county, city, region, state, regional sports teams - or any derivation.
Birthdays and other personal information such as addresses and phone numbers.
Word or number patterns like aaabbb, qwerty, zyxwvuts, 123321, etc.
Any of the above spelled backwards.
Any of the above preceded or followed by a digit (e.g., secret1, 1secret)

Strong passwords have the following characterstics:

Contain both upper and lower case characters (e.g., a-z, A-Z)
Have digits and punctuation characters as well as letters e.g., 0-9, !@#$%^&*()_+|~-=`{}[]:";’<>?,./)
Are at least eight alphanumeric characters long.
Are not a word in any language, slang, dialect, jargon, etc.
Are not based on personal information, names of family, etc.
Passwords should never be written down or stored on-line. Try to create passwords that can be easily remembered. One way to do this is create a password based on a song title, affirmation, or other phrase. For example, the phrase might be: "This May Be One Way To Remember" and the password could be: "TmB1w2R!" or "Tmb1W>r~" or some other variation.

NOTE: Do not use either of these examples as passwords!

B. Password Protection Standards

Do not use the same password for ABC REALTY accounts as for other non-ABC REALTY access (e.g., personal ISP account, option trading, benefits, etc.). Where possible, don’t use the same password for various ABC REALTY access needs. For example, select one password for the accounting system and a separate password for logging on to your PC. Also, select a separate password to be used for an NT account and a UNIX account where applicable.

Do not share ABC REALTY passwords with anyone, including administrative assistants or secretaries. All passwords are to be treated as sensitive, Confidential ABC REALTY information.

Here is a list of "don’ts":

Don’t reveal a password over the phone to ANYONE
Don’t reveal a password in an email message
Don’t reveal a password to the boss
Don’t talk about a password in front of others
Don’t hint at the format of a password (e.g., "my family name")
Don’t reveal a password on questionnaires or security forms
Don’t share a password with family members
Don’t reveal a password to co-workers while on vacation

If someone demands a password, refer them to this document or have them call someone in the Information Security Department.

Do not use the "Remember Password" feature of applications (e.g., Eudora, Outlook, Netscape Messenger).

Again, do not write passwords down and store them anywhere in your office. Do not store passwords in a file on ANY computer system (including Palm Pilots or similar devices) without encryption.

Change passwords at least once every six months (except system-level passwords which must be changed quarterly).

If an account or password is suspected to have been compromised, report the incident to ABC REALTY management and change all passwords.

Password cracking or guessing may be performed on a periodic or random basis by ABC REALTY or its delegates. If a password is guessed or cracked during one of these scans, the user will be required to change it.

C. Application Development Standards

Application developers must ensure their programs contain the following security precautions. Applications:

should support authentication of individual users, not groups.
should not store passwords in clear text or in any easily reversible form.
should provide for some sort of role management, such that one user can take over the functions of another without having to know the other’s password.

D. Use of Passwords and Pass phrases for Remote Access Users

Access to the ABC REALTY Networks via remote access is to be controlled using either a one-time password authentication or a public/private key system with a strong pass phrase.

E. Pass phrases

Pass phrases are generally used for public/private key authentication. A public/private key system defines a mathematical relationship between the public key that is known by all, and the private key, that is known only to the user. Without the pass phrase to "unlock" the private key, the user cannot gain access.

Pass phrases are not the same as passwords. A pass phrase is a longer version of a password and is, therefore, more secure. A pass phrase is typically composed of multiple words. Because of this, a pass phrase is more secure against "dictionary attacks."

A good pass phrase is relatively long and contains a combination of upper and lowercase letters and numeric and punctuation characters. An example of a good pass phrase:

"The*?#>*@TrafficOnThe610Was*&#!#ThisMorning"

All of the rules above that apply to passwords apply to pass phrases.

5.0 Enforcement

Any employee found to have violated this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.

6.0 Definitions

Terms	Definitions
Application Administration Account	Any account that is for the administration of an application (e.g., Oracle database administrator, ISSU administrator).

7.0 Revision History

SECURITY411: Brokerage Password Policy

Brokerage Password Policy