Password protection

Always keep usernames and passwords confidential. Never disclose this information to others. If there are problems with a registration or exam delivery, Pearson VUE must be able to contact the specific administrator involved.

If another test center employee or somebody calling and claiming to be from Pearson VUE asks for your password information, politely refuse. In such cases, report the event to VSS.

Usernames and passwords must meet the Pearson VUE guidelines and be kept confidential in order to keep the software secure. If you suspect that the security of the Pearson VUE applications or exams has been jeopardized, call VSS immediately.

When creating or changing passwords, you must create strong passwords using the following principles:

Use passwords that are easy to remember but hard to guess. Make it nonsensical gibberish.

Start with a catch phrase, like a song title or rhyme. For example, the phrase might be "This May Be One Way to Remember" and the password might be "TmB1w2R!" Combine two words, but replace some with numbers or special characters. For example, "cherry pie" might be "Che@rep1E." Join the first letter of a phrase, sentence, or rhyme. For example, "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers" might be "4S&7yaoF."

The password must be a minimum of eight alphanumeric characters.

The longer the password is, the more difficult it will be for someone to randomly guess.

The password must contain at least three of the following four characteristics:

An uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, a number, and a special symbol. The special symbol could be any of the following: ! ' # % & [ ] * + , - / : ; < = > ? @ ( \ ) ^ _ { | } ~ `.

The username or part of the username cannot be present within the password.

The password "Johnny#1" is not allowed for a user with the username "Johnny."

Do not write passwords down.

The best password in the world is of no use if you write it on a sticky note and place it on your screen or in the drawer next to your computer. Take a few moments to memorize it instead. If you forget a password, you can call VSS and ask for it to be reset.

Change passwords regularly.

The systems forces you to change your password every 30 days. In addition, you may not reuse the same password within one year.

Do not use the same password for every system you access.

If someone does obtain one of your passwords, he or she will only be able to get into one system, not all of them.

If you forget your password or your account is disabled, use the Account Recovery Tool or the Connect portal to manually reset your password and enable your account. You can also contact a test administrator from your test center with the role to reset passwords. For more information, see Resetting your password and enabling your account.

Passwords will not protect a system that is logged in and left unattended. Never leave software applications open and running unattended on the administrator, proctor, or delivery workstations. If you need to leave your desk, be sure to close all open software applications. At the end of the day, always shut down applications properly, and log out the network completely.