Password Requirements
Murray State University's password requirements are designed to help our users set easy-to-remember passwords while continuing to stay secure. We strongly recommend using passphrases (such as combining random words into a longer string) rather than a shorter, but harder-to-remember complex password. The complexity of the password is up to you! The requirements are:
- 16-character minimum length
- Cannot include part of your first name, last name, or username
- Cannot use one of your last four passwords
How often will I have to change my password?
Your Murray State password will never expire! However, it's always a good idea to update your password, especially if:
- you feel your account has been recently compromised
- you have responded to a phishing email
- you have lost your phone
- you had a different account get hacked (bank account, email account, online shopping account, etc)
- anytime you suspect something suspicious is happening with any of your Murray State or other online accounts.
How do I change my password?
Whether you know your current password or not, you can easily reset your password at your convenience! Full instructions with screenshots are in our Password Support article.
Tips for Creating a Secure Password
Murray State University has provided a Password Policy with information on purpose, scope, usage, guidelines, and more that you may find useful.
What makes a strong password? The more complex and unique, the better a password! Some best practices include:
- Murray State passwords require a minimum length of 16 characters.
- Do not use complete words in any language, slang, dialect, jargon, etc.
- Use both upper and lower case characters (e.g., a-z, A-Z)
- Use digits and punctuation characters as well as letters e.g., 0-9, !@#$%^&*()_+|~-=\`{}[]:";'<>?,./)\
- Do not include any personal information, such as phone numbers, birthdays, addresses, etc.
- Do not include names of family, names of pets, names of fantasy characters, etc.
- Do not include any reference to "murray" or "murray state" or "msu" or "racers" etc.
- Do not include any word or number patterns like "aaabbb" or "qwerty" or "123321" etc.
Passwords should never be written down or stored online. 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 any of these examples as passwords!
If you ever question the validity of an email you have received, call the Murray State University Service Desk first at 270-809-2346, or report it through the Report Phishing Email service.