Security Management Guide (G06.24+, H06.03+)

Concerns for the System Administration Team
Security Management Guide—522283-008
7-8
Password Reuse
This command requires that a password be at least 36 characters long the next time a
user changes the password. Use of this command is restricted to super-group
members (or to members of the SECURITY-ADMINISTRATOR security group if that
security group is defined). If the command is restricted, ask an authorized user to issue
the command.
The attribute PASSWORD-MAXIMUM-LENGTH specifies the maximum acceptable
length of a password. The initial value is eight and the maximum value is 64.
Password Reuse
A Safeguard configuration attribute can be used to limit the reuse of passwords by all
users. For example:
3> SAFECOM ALTER SAFEGUARD, PASSWORD-HISTORY 12
This command requires that when a user changes a password, the new password
must differ from the previous twelve passwords used by that user.
Initial Password
Do not derive initial passwords from the user name or user ID because an inside
intruder might log on to a user ID that has been created but not yet assigned.
The initial password should be used only to enable the user to log on for the first time.
Immediately thereafter, the user should change the password to something secret and
easy to remember. For information on how a user changes a password, see Changing
Your Password on page 5-2.
Setting the Initial Password Through the PASSWORD
Command
The ADDUSER utility creates a blank initial password. To establish an initial password,
log on as the user and then use the PASSWORD command.
Setting the Initial Password Through SAFECOM
The SAFECOM ADD USER command allows you to add a user ID and set an initial
password. You might not have authority to add users. Normally only group managers
and the super ID can add users. However, if you are a member of the super group, the
security staff might ask you to create an OBJECTTYPE USER authorization record.
This record determines who can add users (and thereby set the initial password). For
more information about OBJECTTYPE USER authorization records, see Adding Users
on page 3-3.
The following SAFECOM command adds the user CLERK.ROBIN as user ID 102,11
with qw3rt6 as the initial password:
=ADD USER CLERK.ROBIN, 102,11, PASSWORD qw3rt6