Passwords on UCS accounts

Collecting your passwords

When you first arrive in Cambridge, if you are an incoming student or a member of staff who has been pre-registered by your Institution, you can collect your passwords to your UCS accounts. If you apply separately for any UCS account, your password will be sent out by the University Messenger Service. Passwords are not given out on the phone, by email, or to third parties.

Changing your passwords

The initial passwords you are given on any UCS system are not easily memorised and you should change them as soon as possible, using the instructions provided.

Compromised passwords

Your passwords protect your accounts against misuse, and protect from unauthorised use resources that are meant for staff and students of the University. The consequences of an unauthorised person gaining access to your account may be damaging to you (for example your data might be changed or deleted, or email sent in your name), to the system you are using, or to the University network as a whole. Your password should always be kept secret and should be different on each of the computer systems that you have accounts on.

If you believe that another person knows your password on any system, you should check your accounts at once to ensure that they have not been misused and change all your passwords to a new secure value. Any suspected misuse of your account should be reported to the local site contacts (your local Computer Officer) or, if you suspect a serious misuse of systems, to the University Computer Emergency Response Team (cert@cam.ac.uk).

What happens if I forget my password?

Advice on what you need to do for different Computing Service systems is in the FAQ on What should I do if I've forgotten my password or it doesn't work?

Emergency access to passwords

Senior members of staff may give permission for another staff member to collect a password for their account in an emergency. Details of the procedure are in Consent to allow emergency access to a Computing Service account.