Defining Complexity of a User's Password
CUSTADMIN access only
By default, a user’s password has no restrictions. It is therefore suggested that consideration should be given to adding complexity to the passwords to make the system more secure.
The complexity of passwords is determined using a regular expression (a sequence of characters that define a search pattern). An internet search on “regular expression” will provide more information as required.
The following table provides a list of typical expressions that can be combined to define the complexity of the password. One or more options can be combined (separating each one with a space).
| Expression | Description |
|---|---|
| ^ | Defines the start of the string |
| (?=.*[A-z]) | Must contain one lower case or upper case character |
| (?=.*[a-z]) | Must contain one lower case character |
| (?=.*[A-Z]) | Must contain one upper case character |
| (?=.*[0-9]) | Must contain one digit from 0-9 |
| (?=.*[!#$@*&]) | Must contain one special character from the list you define in the square brackets [] - in this example, either !, #, $, @, *, or & |
| {8,20} | Must be a minimum of 8 characters and a maximum of 20 (the number can be changed in the expression to match the minimum and maximum characters required) |
| $ | Defines the end of the string |
Combining these expressions into a string then determines the minimum requirements of the password (the expressions can be in any order). The following example shows that the password must be a minimum 08 characters, must contain one number, one upper or lowercase letter and one special character (from the list).
^(?=.*[A-z])(?=.*[0-9])(?=.*[!#$@*&]).{8,20}$
The expression is entered on the Settings tab of the Financials Administration module (select Admin > Administrator from the menu bar and log in as with the System Administrator credentials). Enter the required expression in the Value column of the Passwords row as shown in the following example:
