How to Choose a Secure Password

Creating your Password

A password is often your first and only means of protecting your account from unauthorised access. It is therefore important that you set yourself a secure password to help protect your Barton account. While a secure password does not (and will never) 100% guarantee the security of your account the following guidance should help you to take reasonable steps to protect your account.

Minimum Password Requirements

The college requires that all passwords meet the minimum requirements:

  • Passwords are case sensitive
  • Must be at least 8 characters long
  • Must include at least 1 number
  • Must not repeat any character sequentially more than 3 times
  • Must have at least 3 unique characters
  • Must not include any of the following values: password, test
  • Must not include part of your name (first or surname) or user name
  • Must not include a common word or commonly used sequence of characters
  • New password may not have been used previously

Recommended Password Requirements

However, to make your password even more secure it is recommended that you:

  • Use a mixture of: upper (A-Z) and lower-case (a-z) letters, digits (0-9) and other printable characters, such as \/.,!”£$%^&*)(
  • Do not use personal details or any combination of letters used in the account username
  • Instead of using a single word and numerical characters, can you think of a “passphrase”? Or perhaps use 4 random dictionary words which you can easily remember, but will be hard for anyone to guess

Resetting your password

You can reset your password at anytime using our Self-Service Password Reset tool:

  • In your web browser, enter the url https://password.barton.ac.uk
  • If you are already signed into your account, you will be signed into the self-service tool
  • If you are not already signed in, do so when prompted
  • Select the Change Password option
  • Enter your current password when prompted, then click Continue
  • Enter and confirm your new chosen password and then click Change Password

Further Advice

  • Don’t use your College username/email and password as login details for other accounts. This is to limit access to systems and exposure if your College account is compromised.
  • Passwords for protected email attachments must never be sent in the same email as the attachment. 
  • If you are struggling to think of a good, secure password, 1Password.com provides a free password generator – Strong Password Generator | Best Password Strength | 1Password – if you select the Memorable Password option from the drop down menu, this will generate 4 random words (you can also increase this value it you wish) which you may want to use as your password