Related links
Keeping your information safe
- Cyber security overview
- Email scams (phishing)
- Using your UniKey safely
- Protecting sensitive data
- Browsing securely
Using your UniKey safely
Setting a secure password
Your UniKey is your ‘digital key’ to a wide range of University online services and resources. If someone else has access to your UniKey and password, you have no control over the information and processes that they can access with your details.
Follow these practices to protect your password, not only for your UniKey but other services too.
- Have longer passwords: we recommend using as many characters as the service allows.
- Be unique: each password, from your UniKey to your personal email, should be different from one another. This ensures that if one password is compromised, your other accounts aren't vulnerable.
- Protect your passwords: record them only in a private place. Consider a password manager app, such as KeePass, LastPass, 1Password and Dashlane.
- Have strong security questions: many sites allow you to reset your password if you correctly answer security questions about yourself. Since this information is readily available online, we recommend avoiding easy questions.
- Enable two-factor authentication wherever possible: this option requires you to authenticate with both a password and another ‘factor’ (typically your phone).
Providing your UniKey
There are a number of apps that ask for your UniKey and password. Before providing these credentials, ensure the app is a University created or endorsed app. If not then you are putting your information at risk of being stolen or misused.
University login pages are branded with the University crest and often include links to relevant University webpages. See some examples of our login pages.
Before entering your UniKey and password on a website, check the URL is ‘sydney.edu.au’ or ‘usyd.edu.au’. Attackers sometimes try to hide or impersonate a website by using hyphens ‘ – ‘ or groups of words that seem appropriate. For example: sydney.edu.au.notavirus.org or sydney-edu-au.freewebsite.com.
If you have doubts about a website or app that’s asking for your UniKey details, contact the ICT Service Desk on 1800 SYD UNI (1800 793 864) or +61 2 8627 1444 (option 4 for ICT) or email ict.support@sydney.edu.au.
Example login pages
Last updated: 25 October 2023
