Passwords and passphrases

Passwords are the most basic form of authentication. Passwords and passphrases are supported by most of the capabilities in CICS®.

CICS supports the following types of password in its logon and authentication interfaces:
  • 1-8 character uppercase passwords (not recommended)
  • 1-8 character mixed case passwords
  • 9-100 character mixed case password phrases (passphrases)

If the security manager supports mixed-case passwords, CICS passes the password to the security manager unchanged. If not, CICS converts the password to uppercase before passing it to the security manager.

To see which CICS access methods support passwords and passphrases, see Which authentication method can I use with which access method?

Why use passwords and passphrases?

Although passwords and passphrases are widely supported in CICS, passwords are not as secure as other authentication methods.
Recommended: Avoid 1-8 character uppercase passwords because they are subject to dictionary attacks if users have poor password hygiene.