Overview
- Your devices must require a passcode or a password before any school accounts or any school information can be placed on the devices.
- Change your NIST password here. Your NIST password works in all these places: Veracross, Managebac, Google, YouTube, Seesaw, but not Turnitin.
- Change your machine password. Note: Machine pwd is for this machine only.
- Apple Menu > System Preferences > Users & Groups.
- Select your user name from the list of users.
- Click the Change Password button, then follow the onscreen instructions. Remember to put a hint for your new password.
- Please be sure to set up your device with Hot Corners so that it locks easily when you want it to be locked.
- This article is related to the Data Protection Guide.
Making Secure Passwords
- Do not recycle passwords on multiple sites/services.
- No Personal Information. Any novice hacker can easily find out your full name, the names of your spouse or children, your pets, or your favorite sports teams.
- Use a Passphrase. The system will force your password to be at least 10 characters (we recommend at least 16 characters). Uppercase, special characters and numbers are not required but can definitely be used in order to make your passphrase even more secure.
- Please do not share your password with anyone. If you do, you are liable for anything they do while logged in as you on any machine.
macOS Keychain
Keychain Access is an included app on macOS that securely stores a number of credentials ranging from your online passwords to any “Secure Notes” you may have. This is very secure but only saves web passwords via Safari.
Open up “Keychain Access” to find the login keychain, which is the main keychain for your account. The Local Items keychain stores items that can be synced to Apple’s iCloud Keychain service, which syncs the keychain across your Apple devices.
Here, you are able to access all your stored passwords and credentials:
Double-click on an item to reveal more information:
You can also use this app to retrieve forgotten passwords if they are stored on your machine. Suppose you have a password saved to a Wi-Fi network somewhere and would like to see it. Simply check the tickbox next to “Show password” and the system will ask you for the password to your login keychain, which should be the same as your login password.
You can also use the password assistant (the key symbol next to the password box) to help you create secure passwords and store them automatically.
To add a new item to Keychain Access, simply return to the main window, click File > New … Item. A window will open asking you for further information.
Overall, Keychain Access is a highly useful utility that aids with password management in macOS. You may find its features useful in the future.
Chrome’s Password Manager
This is a fairly INSECURE method of saving your passwords.
Google Chrome can log you in automatically and save your passwords through its built-in password manager that syncs to the Google Account you are currently signed into. To access the current password store, go to Settings > Advanced Settings > Manage Passwords.
You should see the following page:
To access details, click the hamburger menu (the three vertical dots) to the right of each item. You should see the following:
Finally, if you want to see your saved password, click the eye icon. The system may ask you for your login password. On macOS, Google Chrome will store your saved passwords in its own private store in the Keychain.
If you decide not to use Chrome’s password manager for security reasons, you have the option to disable the password manager. You can also disable auto sign-in, an option that will automatically skip login screens for you.
Other Password Managers
If you’re having a hard time remembering all those passphrases, you can store them in a password manager. This is an application that you can install on your computer, your web browser, and your phone that contains all your passphrases in a secure way. You will only need to remember 1 passphrase, which is the master password to access the password manager.
Once you are logged in to your password manager, you can easily copy and paste your credentials from the password manager to the websites and applications you are using.