KB / Account Control Panel / Users :: Passwords

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The instructions in this article are most likely out of date and are considered deprecated. Please verify that this information is still correct.

You can change any of your account passwords (shell/ftp users, mailboxes, vpn users) by going to the Users > Passwords area of our web panel. From there you can have your passwords emailed to you, have us generate a new random password for you, or change your password (if you have the old password).

For security reasons, we suggest that passwords:
  • have at least 8 characters, at least two of which are numeric
  • not be based on any recognizable words
  • contain no personal information that could be linked back to you
Please note that our password checker is very stringent (no english words or passwords derived from english words), so it may be easiest to just have us generate a random password for you!

Parent Article

What kind of password do you suggest I use?

My password is easy to remember, but I'm not certain it's very secure. What would you recommend I do to make it more secure? How do I change my password?

Why do I need to worry about my password?

Your password is the first line of defense to protect your account from any unsavory characters who may wish to do your site harm. Without a well thought out, secure password, the contents of your site are at risk. What can someone do? They could potentially read your email, send mail from your account (which would show up under your name for whoever reads it!), delete your web site, or even make minor or major alterations which could ruin your site's reputation. Despite all the stories of computer intruders cracking tight security on the 'net, the majority of intrusions are due to easily guessed passwords.

Suggestions

There are a few rules to keep in mind when you create a password:

1. Never use your username as your password, or even a portion of it. 2. Never use the same password twice. 3. Combine letters and numbers to make your password harder to guess. 4. Mix upper and lower case letters to ensure tight security. 5. Do not share your password with anyone. 6. The longer the password, the better. We recommend at least 6 characters. 7. Try not to use words from the dictionary in your password.

With these tips in mind, you can create a difficult to guess password at ease. It may be a bit more difficult to remember, but it's worth it to maintain the integrity of your account.

Changing My Password

If you ever need to change your password, you can do so from the 'Passwords' option from your web admin panel, underneath the 'Users' tab. You can make alterations from the panel here:

     https://panel.dreamhost.com/

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