Vancouver Island University

Discovery Account User Names & Passwords

• About Discovery account user names
• About Discovery account passwords
• Passwords are like underwear
• How to change your password
• What to do if you forget your password

About Discovery account user names

A user name identifies your account on the network (and your confidential password ensures you are the only one who can use it.)

At VIU your user name is created by an automatic routine that ensures you are uniquely identified in our system.  There are currently two styles of student usernames:

For accounts created after August 23, 2005, a student's Discovery account user name is their Registration student number (e.g. "555444555").

For accounts created before August 23, 2005, the formula to create the Discovery account username was as follows:

1. Up to the first eight character of your last name
2. The initial of your first name, and perhaps the initial of your second name if you have one in student records;
3. And (if required) some additional characters, usually numbers, to make this name unique in the system.  For example, if a Robert Andrew Smith and a Roberta Anne Smith are both students, the automatic routine may generate the user names "smithra1" and "smithra2."

Note that user names are NOT case sensitive, so "smithra1" is the same as "SmithRA1" or "SMITHRA1"-you can use whatever form is most convenient for you.  (By contrast, passwords are case sensitive.)

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About Discovery account passwords

A password is a string of 6 to 24 letters (a-z, A-Z) and numbers (0-9) that an account holder uses to authenticate himself or herself on the VIU network.  You should never tell someone else your password (not even a computer technician).  These are the things you should know about passwords:

1. Passwords are case sensitive - e.g., "yellowdog" is different from "yeLLowdog," and one will not work in place of the other.  Mixing uppercase and lower case letters in a password is generally a way to make common expressions more secure as passwords.
2. Common words should not be used as passwords.  (One trick of hackers is to run a standard dictionary against an account password, until a match is found.)  To make an easy-to-remember but more secure password, some people take a common word that is meaningful to them and either introduce unusual case sequences or numbers into it.  For example rather than use "Vancouver," they might use "vanCouVer" or "van24couver."  (DO NOT USE THESE EXAMPLES FOR YOUR OWN PASSWORD.)  The reason for this is that it is relatively easy for somewhat watching you at the keyboard to guess a common word or expression you might be typing.  It is much more difficult to do this when you introduce odd variations on this expression.
3. Blanks and special characters cannot be used in passwords because they are reserved for other uses.  Use only simple numbers (0-9) and letters (a-z, A-Z).

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Passwords are like underwear

In an effort to make computers more security conscious, one university mounted a campaign to remind people that passwords are like underwear.  The implications are simple:

• A password is like underwear-keep it hidden.
• A password is like underwear-change it often.
• A password is like underwear-don't share it with friends.

Your password is effective in providing security only if you alone know it.  For this reason:

• Take precautions so that others cannot observe you when you type in your password (IT personnel will look the other way).  And don't write your password on a piece of paper.
• Change your password immediately if you suspect anyone else might have learned it.
• Change your password regularly (every few months) as a matter of course.

These rules are often stated but seldom followed, with the result that your account is not as secure as it should be.  REMEMBER:  Don't tell anyone else your password.  It is the only thing that that ensures privacy of your account.  It is also your obligation to see that only you use your account.  You are responsible for how your account is used, so do not let other people have access to it.

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How to change your password

In Windows 2000 and XP, you can change your password at any time by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and clicking the "Change Password" button.  Remember, passwords are case sensitive.

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What to do if you forget your password

No one knows your password unless you tell them-and this includes the computer technicians and IT staff.  (You should never tell anyone else your password!)  This means that if you forget your password, it must be reset using our online account reset tool (you will need your student number and registration PIN to do this.)

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