If you're part of Stanford's HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Covered Entity, you'll need to change your SUNet ID password at least every twelve months - even if you don't work with Protected Health Information.

When your password is due to expire, you'll receive an automated notification. In addition, when you sign into a Stanford site, you’ll be prompted to make the change. Resetting your password promptly helps Stanford to meet its obligations under HIPAA and ensures that you can connect without interruption to any website, application, or service that requires a SUNet ID. 

After you change your password, remember to update Outlook and other network drives that use your Stanford credentials.

• Follow these steps to update your SUNet ID password
• Follow these steps to update applications that use your SUNet ID password

You’ll need to select a new password that meets Stanford’s password rules. Instead of a single pass “word,” think about using four or more unrelated words or use a passphrase. Add punctuation and capitalization. You can also toss in a few numbers or symbols or deliberately misspelled words. Remember, easily guessed password pose a big security problem. Here’s a quick guide to Stanford’s password requirements.

If you'd like help creating and managing your passwords, consider using Dashlane or another password manager.

Your SUNet ID is an account name that identifies you, uniquely and permanently,  as a member of the Stanford community. It's what you'll use to log into most secure online services.  Once you've claimed a SUNet ID, it will never be reassigned to anyone else. If your relationship with Stanford changes, the status of your SUNet ID will change from active to inactive and back, but your SUNet ID itself does not change.

If you have questions about changing your password or using Dashlane Premium password manager, call the IRT Service Desk at (650) 725-8000 or visit irthelp.stanford.edu.