Although your UT EID is your public user name and can therefore be shared, you need to keep your UT EID password secure. Your password is the only way to verify that someone logging in with your UT EID is really you. You can protect your password by following a few simple guidelines:

NEVER let anyone use your account.

If you give someone your UT EID and password, it’s just like giving them power of attorney over all of your personal, student, and financial records at the university. If that person performs any transactions using your UT EID, there’s no way to prove that those transactions were not performed by you.

NEVER share your UT EID password with ANYONE.

This includes family members such as parents and spouses.

One trick used to get passwords is for someone to contact you by phone or e-mail, claiming to be the system administrator and asking for your password to complete system maintenance or to simulate your working environment. Your system administrator NEVER needs to know your UT EID password.

NEVER write down your password.

In the 1983 movie WarGames, Matthew Broderick famously is able to get access to the school's computer systems because he knows where they write down the password.

NEVER let anyone look over your shoulder while you are typing your password.

If you suspect someone is doing this, stop typing. You may also want to change your password.

ALWAYS choose a strong password.

Strong passwords are designed to prevent others (both people and automated password-guessing programs) from guessing your password.

NEVER reuse passwords.

Do not use the same password for your UT EID that you use as a password for another computer system, such as your ATM card PIN number, or your password to a Web site.

If the other site gets compromised and your password is leaked, you have effectively been compromised at every place where you use that password.

ALWAYS log off of any computer that requires a UT EID to sign on.