As a user of NHSmail, you are required to set 3 security questions and answers through the Portal. The answers to these questions will then be used to check your identity, for example, if you need to contact your local administrator due to an account lock out or if you wish to use the self-service password reset. You will never be asked for the whole answer to your security question, only individual characters from it. You should never share the questions or answers with anyone as this will compromise the security of your NHSmail account
1. Click Profile in the navigation bar at the top of the screen
2. Select the Security Questions tab at the top of the screen
3. Type a question of your choice into the Question textbox and type the correct answer into the Answer textbox under Security Question 1
Your security questions and answers must satisfy the following criteria:
- Each of the questions/answers must be different
- Each question/answer must be between 5 and 12 characters long
- You cannot use repeating numbers or letters in a question/answer (eg. 111 or aaa)
- A space will count as a character
Example of security questions could be, your mother maiden name, the model of your first car or the name of your first pet. A green tick will show to the left of the question/ answer when it fulfil the requirement guidelines
4. Repeat the same process for Security Question 2 and Security Question 3
5. Click Save at the bottom of the page
You should never share the full questions or the answers of your security questions with anyone. You will only be asked for specific character by your LOA or the help desk
If you forget the answers to your security question you should contact your local administrator to discuss the local process of how you can alternatively authenticate yourself. Once you are re-authenticated, you will need to reset your security questions. Refer to the Updating Security Questions Quick Reference Guide for more information on how to do this.
