Week 24 - Resetting Your Wheeler Password (and Passphrases)

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

 

Happy Tech Tuesday! This week, we discuss Resetting Your Wheeler Password (and Passphrases). 

 

As a user of the Wheeler network, you are made to update your Wheeler password every 90 days. Normally, you will get a warning that your password will be expiring in a certain number of days. When this happens, it is prudent that you change your password as soon as possible to avoid login and access issues later after the password expires. Some of you have already had theirs expire this month and are ready to breeze through tax season without another one. I’ve warned some others of you about your pending password expirations. If you find that your VPN no longer connects properly, it is likely due to your password expiring.
 

Password vs. Passphrase: 5 Reasons to Use Passphrase

The recommendation is to use passphrases instead of passwords. A password is typically composed of not more than a combination of 10 letters, numbers, and symbols. It could be a string of random symbols such as “B@3!&O$$” or just a lousy word like “Secure123!”, or a combination of both, such as “N3wP@ssw0rd!”.

On the other hand, a passphrase is longer than a password and contains spaces in between words such as this: “The R0ad to success.”

So why is a passphrase better than passwords?

  1. Passphrases are easier to remember than a random bunch of symbols and letters combined. It would be easier to remember a phrase from your favorite song or your favorite quotation than to remember a short but complicated password.
  2. Passwords are relatively easy to guess or crack by both human and robots. The online criminals have also leveled up and developed state of the art hacking tools that are designed to crack even the most complicated password.
  3. Satisfies complex rules easily. The use of punctuation, upper and lower cases in Passphrases also meets the complexity requirements for passwords.
  4. Major OS and applications support passphrases. All major OS including Windows, Linux and Mac allow passphrases of up to 127 characters long. Hence, you can opt for longer passphrases for maximum security.
  5. Passphrases are next to impossible to crack because most of the highly efficient password cracking tools breaks down at around 10 characters. Hence, even the most advanced cracking tool won’t be able to guess, brute-force or pre-compute these passphrases.

Remotely Update Your Password

If your password expires before you have a chance to change it from inside the office, you will be unable to connect to VPN or Citrix/Cloud. The following procedure will allow you to up update your password remotely if you are not in the office.

  1. Point your browser to https://apps.wheelercpa.com/RDWeb/Pages/en-US/password.aspx.
  2. After the page loads, do the following:
    1. Enter your Wheeler username and current password in the first two boxes.
      (Username example: wheeler\michael.montgomery)
       Be sure to use the correct slash key, located below the backspace key, when entering your username.
    2. Enter your desired new password in the final two boxes.
    3. Click Submit to proceed with your password change.
  3. If your new password does not meet the length (7 characters), complexity (1 uppercase, 1 lowercase, 1 number, and 1 non-alphanumeric character), or history requirements (24 passwords remembered), then you will be unable to update the password.
  4. If your new password meets all the requirements for the Wheeler domain, your login password will be updated. Click OK to complete the process.
  5. Once this is done, you will be able to connect to the WCPA VPN using your new password.
  6. If you are using a Wheeler laptop or desktop from outside the office, you can update the login password on the computer by locking your computer screen ( ⊞ Win  +  L )  and then unlocking it with your new password while connected to the WCPA VPN. This will update the password on your laptop or desktop.

    Important: You may need to update your saved password for the following applications: Office 365, Outlook, Teams, Skype, VPN, and Citrix Workspace.

 

 

Update Your Password While Inside the Office or Connected to VPN

To update your password while in the office or while currently connected to VPN, please use the following steps:

  1. Hit the Ctrl-Alt-Del keys to bring up the lock screen menu and click “Change a password”.
  2. This will bring up the “Change a password” screen.
    1. Enter your Wheeler username and current password in the first two boxes.
    2. Enter your desired new password in the final two boxes.
    3. Click the right-arrow or hit Enter to proceed with your password change.
  3. If your new password does not meet the length (7 characters), complexity (1 uppercase, 1 lowercase, 1 number, and 1 non-alphanumeric character), or history requirements (24 passwords remembered), then you will be unable to update the password.
  4. If your new password meets all the requirements for the Wheeler domain, your login password will be updated.

    You may need to update your saved password for the following applications: Office 365, Outlook, Teams, Skype, VPN, and Citrix Workspace.