Change your PSU Access Account Password

Example: staff that access PSU's IBIS and/or ISIS have an AIS account. And a few have less, some county-paid Extension staff may not have a PSU Access Account at all.

In general, faculty and staff will have a PSU Access Account. Everyone who is a Penn State paid employee should have a PSU Access Account.

For security reasons, it is recommended that you change these passwords every 6 months. Both Penn State and the College require that you update passwords at least once a year.

What if My Access Account Password Expires

If you have setup Penn State Access Account Security Questions, you can reset the password via a web browser. Visit the Penn State Password Management page and click on the Change my Password/My Password has Expired link.

If you did not create Penn State Access Account Security Questions and you've forgotten your PSU password or if it has expired, you are required to go to an Information Technology Services (ITS) Signature Station to reinstate (reset) the password. County Extension office staff may go to a Penn State Campus as well.

Note: If County Extension office staff are unable to travel to a campus, Ag IT Support can request for the password to be reset via E-mail. This process may take up to a week to complete. And, if you've never used a signature station when you were first hired, you will need to fill out the Penn State Access Account Acceptance Statement. The completed form can be submitted to the ITS Accounts Services Office, 204 Wagner Building, University Park PA 16802. The form can also be faxed to 814-865-9289. They will share your new, temporary password with us. We will then call you with the new password.

Services for Each Account Type

When we create AG accounts, we use the assigned PSU Access Account UserID. Here is a list of services used by each account.

Ag IT strongly recommends that you do not use the same password for any other user accounts (i.e. gmail, Facebook, etc.) that you may have.

Services that use PSU Access Account:

• Computer Login (for a machine in AG domain)
• E-mail (for College Exchange account) **
• SharePoint sites
• Box@PennState
• Computer Login (for a machine in ACCESS domain, login to dce.psu.edu)
• Converge (on a WYSE terminal)
• E-mail (for PSU mail account)
• ESSIC
• FIT
• ITS-managed computing labs
• Plone
• VPN
• Web based AIS systems

How To's for Password Updates

Individual How To's are provided below with steps to update your PSU Access Account Password. You can print and follow these as needed.

1. How to Change Your Penn State ACCESS Account Password

Suggestions to make your password more secure:

1. Make sure your password is cryptic. The password given to you when you sign up for PSU's account is a good example of a cryptic password, but you could also combine elements to make up your own.
   • One tip is to take the letters from words of a phrase and mix them with special characters.
   • For example: !L2d0,d02Ln! ( "Learning to Do, Doing to Learn" )
2. Use a longer "PassPhrase" instead of a shorter password. PassPhrases are strings of 15 characters or more. Longer PassPhrases prevent basic password cracking and guessing and are more secure than a short, complex 8 character password. According to Mark Minasi, a noted security consultant, a 15 character PassPhrase will require a cracking program the following number of computations to break just 15 lowercase letters ... 1,677,259,342,285,725,925,376 possibilities. When you add the additional use of uppercase letters, numbers and a special character, the PassPhrase will be almost impossible to crack.
3. Penn State's has tips to create a strong password and avoid weak passwords.
   Another set of additional best practices and guidelines for setting passwords is found on the Office of Information Security Online Safety and Security page.

Other University Services

Services from Administrative Information Services or AIS

Administrative Information Services provides the University with a number of systems and services. Passwords for the AIS Mainframe System and the Data Warehouse are unique to each system and are changed separately.

AIS Mainframe System

AIS mainframe systems (Ex: IBIS, ISIS) are accessed via Host Explorer. You will be prompted to change this password when it's due to expire. To change this password at any time, follow these steps:

1. When logging in to the mainframe, enter your userid and current password.
2. Then go to the New Password field. Enter your desired new password and press Enter.
3. Follow the prompts to verify and change the password.

AIS Data Warehouse

To change your AIS Data Warehouse password, use the Data Warehouse Password Change Utility.