Changing Your Password

New password must contain the following:

1. Minimum length of 14 characters

2. Must have at least one Upper and one Lower case letters

3. Must have at least one number

1. Login to InSite portal at https://m.4cd.edu

2. Click on “Settings” tile

3. Click on the "Change Password"  

4. Follow the prompts

5. If you are off-site and use VPN on a District/college Owned Windows computer please follow the two additional steps below, for all others that use personal computer or a Mac skip to step 6.

   1. Login to VPN (new password should work after 5 minutes if not try the old password)

   2. Then "Lock" computer by holding the <CTRL> <ALT> and <Del> keys together then choose Lock option then log back in using the new password and this should sync the new password to the computer.

6. You are Done. Please remember to update your password on other devices that you might have such as phones, tablets, etc.

Hackers often use brute force attacks, where software is used to generate a large number of guesses to crack passwords. Strong, complex passwords are much harder for these programs to guess before security measures lock the account. They also help prevent dictionary attacks that run through a database of common words and phrases to guess passwords

What makes a strong password

Some factors that make a strong password are:

• Length: At least 14 characters. Longer passwords are generally stronger.

• Complexity: Use a mix of letters (both uppercase and lowercase), numbers, and symbols.

• Avoid predictability: Don’t use easily guessed passwords like “123456”, “password”, or “qwerty”. 

• Avoid personal information like birthdays, names of your pets or loved ones, or anniversaries.

• Uniqueness: Each of your accounts should have its own distinct password. If you reuse a password across multiple services, then a data breach on one service can result in hackers gaining access to all the other services secured with the same password.

Use passphrase to remember passwords:

Unfortunately, while passwords such as h9!fdjhG@H68%J are complex and very secure, they’re not easy (for humans) to remember. One way to address this is to think of a phrase or sentence that’s easy for you to remember. For example, “My first car was a Honda in 2022!”.

You can then turn your phrase into a password by using the first letter of each word, mixing in numbers and symbols. From the example above, the password could be “Mfcwahi2022”.

The final step in creating a successful mnemonic device is to associate your password with a mental image to help remember it. For instance, picturing your first car and the year you got it can trigger the memory of your password.