Students were required to change their district password by mid-September

The district’s deadline extension has passed for changing portal passwords. Initially set for July 30, it was extended to Sept. 16.

By Natalie Metcalf, Valley Life Editor

The LACCD required students to change their portal password in an attempt to bolster cybersecurity following the scam emails that have been plaguing the district since last spring.

Throughout the summer and the start of the fall semester, the district sent emails to students asking them to change their account passwords. Originally, the deadline was scheduled for July 30, but the district extended the deadline in August. Monarchs are required to change their passwords, as the system will not allow an old password. Previous passwords expire, giving students no choice but to create a longer combination for their student portal.

“The longer password provides a much higher level of security,” said Valley College President Barry Gribbons. “The chances of somebody randomly guessing a 14-digit password as opposed to a six-digit password is incredibly slimmer.”

The district believes if students make their passwords longer, the system will be more secure. The LACCD will also be implementing multi-factor authentication.

“It [changing my password] doesn’t feel safer or less to me,” said Siobhan Quille, a third-year English major at Valley. “It seems like their quick response to accounts being compromised.”

According to the district, recent guidance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology suggests that long and complex passwords have more significant benefits to security than frequent password changes.

The Q&A describing the new district-wide policy states that passwords must be changed annually, but there is no specific date listed as to when the change should occur.

Over the past year, students and faculty have received phishing emails. Around eight emails have been sent by the district warning students of phishing. On Sept. 6, an email was sent out to students, notifying them of another scam email having to do with a fake job offer. LACCD described the email as fraudulent and told students to not contact the sender.

“Over this past weekend, several mass phishing emails were sent to LACCD students offering a job as a personal assistant,” as stated in the email sent out on the first week of school.

The scam email offered employment to students. Included in the district’s email, was a bullet point list on how to protect your account from future fraudulent emails. The LACCD recommends not entering your portal password into any URL where the scam email came from.

If students received a fake job offer, they must change their district password immediately. According to Patrick Luce –– the Chief Information Security Officer at the district –– any email from student outlook that offers employment or a form of payment is fraudulent.

“Be very suspicious of any email that offers employment or some other payment that sounds too good to be true.” wrote Luce. “It is almost always fraudulent.”