In nine days, approximately a dozen Sacramento State students can surf the Internet and update their social networking sites on their own free iPad.

The iPads will be awarded to a selected number of students who set up security questions and change their SacLink passwords into a passphrase by Nov. 19.

“Staff members suggested we needed some sort of incentive for students (to change their passwords),” Gilbert said.

A September 2009 Information Security audit ordered by the California State University Board of Trustees for all CSU campuses had prompted the iPad contest, Gilbert said.

The audit found that passwords were not being changed annually, which poses a security risk. The requirement now is that all students, faculty and staff on campus change their passwords into a 12-character passphrase if their passwords are more than a year old.

Gilbert said an all-lowercase 12-character passphrase is stronger than eight random symbols.

“The intent is to protect everybody’s security and privacy of their information,” he said.

Gilbert said students who fail to create a passphrase by Dec. 15 risk losing their account privileges. When students lose their account privileges, they will not be able to log into MySacState, SacCT or the school’s computers.

Since one iPad will be awarded per 1,000 students who changed their security questions and created a passphrase, the number of winners is not predetermined, Gilbert said.

Winners will be randomly selected from a pool of eligible students. Eight have been selected as of Friday.

Gilbert said the winners have not been contacted because the iPads, which were funded through private funds, have not arrived.

He said he hopes about 20,000 to 25,000 students will be eligible for the contest, which means roughly 20 to 25 iPads will be given to students.

He said as of Friday, about 16,000 students still have not created a passphrase nor set up security questions.

Students who have not complied by Dec. 15 will likely see a countdown message saying they have a certain number of chances to do so before losing their account privileges, Gilbert said.

While the details about the warnings are not completely worked out, a student who does lose account privileges will have had about a dozen warnings through SacCT or after logging into the schools’ computers, he said.

“If people haven’t updated their passwords or updated their information security we’re not suppose to permit them to use university resources or connect to the university network,” Gilbert said.

Even though sophomore criminal justice major Pegah Javan said the 12-character requirement is too long, she said she complied because she wanted to win the iPad.

“(Six or eight characters) should be good enough as long as you change it every few months, it shouldn’t depend on the length of the password,” Javan said.

Yolanda Del Toro, sophomore criminal justice major, said without the iPad incentive, she would not have changed her password because the 12-character requirement is hard to remember.

While other CSU campuses are also required to take part, Gilbert said he does not know what the other campuses are doing in response to the audit.

Yesenia Veloz, sophomore social work major, said she thinks her account is secure enough because it is a university website.

She said she was not planning to set up security questions and create a passphrase until she received the e-mail from the university about the contest.

Gilbert said the passphrase change will have a positive effect to students because the CSU is not immune from hackers.

Computer hacking happens because of lack of security on a person’s computer, he said.

“Hackers look for the weakest link. If you got 30,000 people on campus and you have protected 29,000 of them, you’re not safe; the hackers will go after that last 1,000 because they’re the weak link,” he said.

For instance, In July every Associated Students Inc. computer had to be taken offline and cleaned because of a virus.

Creating security questions and changing passwords can prevent these types of incidents from happening again, Gilbert said.

In addition to enhancing security, Gilbert said students will now be able to reset their passphrase online, avoiding a trip to the Information Resources and Technology Service Desk.

The iPad incentive, though, does not appeal to some students.

Joe Gomes, junior biology major, and Jasmine Greer, senior biology major, said the 12-character passphrase will enhance the security of their account and are complying with the requirements.

Gomes said tickets to local concerts would be a good alternative to the iPad. Greer said because she has a computer, she would rather win a gift certificate to the Hornet Bookstore.

Although only students are eligible for the iPad, Gilbert said faculty and staff are required to set up security questions and change their passwords to a passphrase.

Michelle Curtis can be reached at [email protected].