Anyone that works in a company that accepts credit cards has to deal with periodic password changing as well as a few other issues dealing with passwords. This is due to PCI Data Security Standard, a document that specifies how companies handle security for credit cards and related information. For instance, your password has to be a certain length, have certain characters in it, must be changed at certain intervals, and your account must be locked after so many failed attempts.
The last one is the one that got me the last time I changed my password. While I can remember my password, I have a number services/devices that automatically check for mail. I have my iPhone and my iPad both connected to my work account, as well as Outlook. This basically creates 7 connections (3 each for the iOS devices) and if my limit is less than 7, I get locked out almost immediately. So here’s my process:
- On iPhone, go into Settings->Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Set Mail, Contacts and Calendars to Off for my work account.
- On iPad, go into Settings->Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Set Mail, Contacts and Calendars to Off for my work account.
- Quit Outlook on my Mac.
- Open Keychain Access. Search for all work saved logins. Delete them.
- Login to VPN.
- Change password. (If you’re locked out, call someone to fix it.)
- Close Browser.
- Launch Outlook. Enter password.
- Launch Browser. Login to corporate site. Tell Safari to remember password.
- Carefully change password on iPhone. Re-enable Mail, Contacts and Calendars.
- Carefully change password on iPad. Re-enable Mail, Contacts and Calendars.