Password and Passphrase Security › Password Phrase Controls › Passwords and Password Phrases

Passwords and Password Phrases

CA Top Secret for z/VM requires password protection for all ACIDs by default. In addition to a password, an ACID can have an optional password phrase. You can use password phrases instead of passwords in applications that support them.

Passwords have a maximum length of eight characters. A password phrase can be from 14 to 100 characters long and can include mixed-case letters, numbers, and special characters including blanks. The same user ID can have a password for applications that accept passwords only and a password phrase for other applications.

The security administrator can specify:

Password and password phrase settings, including:

• Minimum length
• Permitted and required content
• Expiration interval
• whether passwords are for all facilities or individual facilities.
• whether CA Top Secret for z/VM prompts users for new password and password phrase verification.