Technical information

DEFINITY ECS, DEFINITY Communications Systems,
System 75, and System 85
Issue 7 June 2001
6-21
Protecting Passwords
The AUDIX, DEFINITY AUDIX, and Avaya INTUITY Voice Mail Systems offers
passwords and password time-out mechanisms that can help restrict
unauthorized users.
Voice mail systems R1V4 and later allow you to specify the minimum length
required. Use a minimum of six digits, and always specify a minimum password
length that is greater than the extension length. For example, if the extensions are
five digits, require six or more digits for the password. A longer password is more
difficult for a hacker to break, and offers greater system security.
For the Avaya I
NTUITY System, administrator passwords follow standard UNIX
conventions, but have a 6-character minimum, one of which must be non-alpha.
Subscriber passwords can be up to 15 digits.
For DEFINITY ECS, administrator passwords are 3 to 10 characters, alpha and
numeric. Subscriber passwords can be up to seven digits.
Voice mail subscribers are given three attempts in one call to correctly enter their
mailbox before they are automatically disconnected. You also can specify how
many consecutive invalid attempts are allowed before a voice mailbox is locked.
 The AUDIX, DEFINITY AUDIX, and Avaya INTUITY Voice Mail Systems
provide three logins, each with individual password protection. For the
AUDIX and DEFINITY AUDIX Voice Mail Systems, only one of these,
“cust,” is customer-controlled. For the Avaya I
NTUITY Voice Mail System,
“cust,” “sa,” and “vm” are customer-controlled. For administrative access to
a voice mail system, the customer must log in and enter a password.
You should routinely change the “cust,” “sa,” and “vm” login passwords,
using the maximum digits allowed (10). Avaya will routinely change the
passwords for the two voice mail system support logins.
 Change the administration password from the default.
 Use the “Minimum Password” feature, when available, to specify a
minimum password length of at least 6 characters. Never set the minimum
password to
0.
 Make sure subscribers change the default password the first time they log
into the voice mail system. To insure this, make the default password fewer
digits than the minimum password length.
See ‘‘Administration / Maintenance Access’’ on page 3-4 and ‘‘General Security
Measures’’ on page 3-8 for secure password guidelines. See Chapter 13 for
information on how to change passwords.