Oracle Security

Standards for Usernames

There are several different types of standards for usernames. What username standards will you enforce at your site?

Advantages and Disadvantages

Let’s consider a uniform approach for usernames across systems within a company. Such an approach has several benefits:

• It is easier to administer than randomly generated usernames or usernames selected by the user.

• It ensures that the username will be the same for each operating system, each database, each application, and for email interaction.

• It can require the inclusion of specific characters or numbers within a username, so a standard makes it easier to ensure that those requirements are always met.

A possible disadvantage to having a username standard is that anyone who has been associated with the company may have enough information to be able to determine any employee’s username easily.

Suggested Username Standards

In the case where a username is constructed using part or all of a person’s actual name, the username is easy to remember; you only need to know what the standard is to determine what the composition of the username is or will be. An example of a standard using parts of a person’s name as a username is:

• The first three letters of the person’s first name

• Plus the first letter of the middle name

• Plus the first four letters of the last name

• Plus a designating number at the end to fulfill the requirement of some operating systems to include both alphabetic and numeric or special characters in a username ...