Terra Community College enforces a strong password policy in order to help you protect your personal data. Identity theft is a serious threat today and historically has been the fastest growing crime in the US. Your portal contains personal information that would make you a target for identity theft, therefore it is imperative that you take the necessary steps to protect it. Your username and password is the main defender of this vital information, so creating a strong password is your best defense.

The first and foremost rule is that your password should not be something that someone can guess. In over 25% of reported identity theft cases, the victim knew the thief. How many people know your pet's name, your favorite color, or your kids names? How many times do you use a password like this?

The next rule is that the password should be complex to prevent software packages from guessing it using a brute force attack. These brute force programs can crack a password that is a dictionary word in a matter of seconds. So a strong password combined with account locking after 5 incorrect login attempts will protect your account.

Click Next to see Terra's Strong Password Policy.