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In computer science context, is often implemented as a security protocol that employees change their current passwords for another one. This procedure is sometimes called "rotating password".

My question is, why is this called "rotating" instead of "changing"? My doubts came from the fact that there's no finite predefined list of passwords from which the users choose their password, but instead, every rotation implies a new password.

Allonsy
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  • Define "rotating password policy". When I last used a system that forced me to change my password at least every 4 weeks, I simply appended the three-letter abbreviation of the current month to my password, so I was implicitly "rotating" thru a list of 12 possibilities. And although Googling *define rotating password policy* didn't actually lead me to a clear-cut definition, it was obvious that at least some other people use it of contexts where passwords are "(re-)cycled / auto-generated" using such methods. – FumbleFingers May 04 '17 at 13:50
  • I've never heard of password rotation before. It sounds like a misuse of rotate. Maintenance tasks can sometimes require some form of periodic rotation. For instance you might rotate the tires on your car every so often so that they wear evenly. That's probably the sense that they mean: some sort of periodic maintenance. But that would still be a misuse. – dangph May 05 '17 at 06:59
  • The rotation is what users do when they reuse previous passwords of their own, not a redefined set. They change passwords when required, and return to password 1 when permitted. Some US federal rules (Ginnie Mae) require not using the last 24 passwords, hence a rotation back to the first one every 24 changes. – Yosef Baskin May 05 '17 at 16:52

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If the change occurs on a regular basis, then it can be referred to as a rotating _____ (whatever thing we were talking about).

Rotate: to cause to go through a cycle of changes or follow in a fixed routine of succession: to rotate crops. (Random House)

For example, I try to rotate the towels in the little bathroom closest to the living room. Meaning, I try to put whatever towel is there into the wash, periodically, and bring in a clean one from the closet; and I try to do this on a regular basis.

aparente001
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