To gain access to your online account, change your password, and manage alternate contact information, visit the Washington College Account Management Page at https://selfservice.washcoll.edu

About Passwords

A strong password should be between 8 and 64 characters.  It should include letters, numbers and at least one special character (!, @, #, $, %, etc.).

Misspellings strengthen passwords, and make them more memorable.  For example, a strong password could be “t3chn0!oggy” because it contains letters, numbers, and a special character. The password is easily remembered due to its misspelling.

Changing Your Password

To change your password, navigate to the Washington College Account Management Page (selfservice.washcoll.edu). 

Setting a strong password from the beginning is a good start to being a smart user of the Washington College network. However, it’s not enough to be truly secure. Security experts recommend changing your password (or pass-phrase) at least once every three months (90 days) and Washington College requires this practice.

Password Phishing

Password phishing commonly occurs when an outside malicious scammer sends emails to faculty, staff or students requesting account information (passwords).  The attempts frequently pretend to be campus IT administrators to lure WC users into giving information.  The emails usually request users to reply with account information, or link to a website with a form asking for account information.

These phishing emails often appear to be sent from washcoll.edu email addresses, however email addresses can be spoofed.  Users can distinguish a legitimate email from a phishing attempt by checking the “reply-to” address.

Common password phishing emails contain threats about accounts being suspended for being over quota, or accounts being terminated for inactivity.  The messages use phrases, such as “comply immediately!”

When attempting to determine if an email is authentic or not, remember that Washington College will never send you an email requesting any confidential information, such as your user id or password. If you are unsure of an email’s authenticity feel free to contact the HelpDesk. 

If you’ve fallen for a phishing scam…

• Change your password immediately. 
• Run a scan using either Windows Defender or Malwarebytes removing any threats the scan finds, restart your computer and continue to this process until you receive a clean scan result (no threats detected).
• Your account was most likely used to send spam messages, so you should expect replies and bounce messages for a few days.
• Notify the HelpDesk.

Compromised Accounts

Accounts can become compromised in many ways; the most common is through phishing attempts in which the user is asked for their account credentials by what appears to the be an official school department (IT, Human Resources, etc.) for some reason. Other ways an account can become compromised is by contact with unsafe websites, downloading of infected data (programs, music, movies, etc.).

Please remember we will never request your full log in credentials and they should never be provided to anyone for any reason.

Questions

For questions about passwords, please contact the HelpDesk at 410-778-7777.