The Office of Technology Services (OTS) has noticed more people reporting getting locked out of their accounts due to consecutive failed password attempts. Most lockouts seem to happen soon after people change their password. If you use multiple devices like laptops, iPads, and smart phones, your chances may increase due to the way these devices store your password and synchronize to the campus network.
When changing your password, we recommend gathering up all your portable devices (phones, laptops, etc.) and changing your password on all your devices at the same time. Staggering password changes over several hours or days may increase your lockout risk while your arsenal of portable devices continues trying to log on with your old password.
While a lockout period is an important practice to help prevent rapid-fire automated hacking attempts, OTS and others realize the adverse impact on students, faculty, and staff. Effective Monday, March 26, we are reducing the lockout duration to 10 minutes. This means that if you are locked out for multiple failed password attempts, you will automatically be able to try again sooner.
In an emergency, in which 10 minutes is too long, you can reset your password right away, provided you can get to a computer with a web browser. To learn how and to find out more about lockouts, visit: {http://www.towson.edu/accountlockouts}.
