Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives
Re: Self-service password reset approaches
From: Nathan Zierfuss <nathan.zierfuss () ALASKA EDU>
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2012 10:59:52 -0900
We use two parts similar to what Ryan described. There is account claiming and password resets. In claiming the individuals account exists but they don't know the password. They vet themselves based on information they gave the institution in the admissions process that are now part of their student record. Currently this is used for password resets as well but we are shifting to allowing users to set 3 security questions after the vetting process. For resets they would now need their username and piece of personal information, such as a birth date, and after verifying that information they see 2 of there 3 questions they choose and provided answers for. If they get them right they can reset their password. If they fail they get one more opportunity, this time with the question previously unused as one of the 2 presented. This is the last try. Success and failure messages are sent to all email addresses on record for the individual. If the individual does not have 3 security questions set they are forced back to the vetting process used for account claiming. If an individual has elected to place a FERPA directory hold on their student record for privacy reasons, the account does not exist or they fail to vet the self-service interface prints a generic helpdesk contact information page that is the same for all those scenarios. One condition with regard to the challenge/response questions is the response can not be in the challenge. So "What color is your blue car?" with the answer "blue" is not allowed for list selected questions or user provided questions. The helpdesks have no ability to set passwords for accounts. They can administratively set challenge/responses for an account but the user must use them to gain access to the self-service reset tool then select new challenge/responses and reset their password. Because the password they are trying to reset gets them access to their institutional email account and distrust of any email addresses they give us from other providers sending an email with a url or code to reset the password was not a viable option for us. Nathan On Mon, Feb 6, 2012 at 10:07 AM, Ryan D Hiebert <ryan () ryanhiebert com>wrote:
We are considering implementing something like that as well. The two parts we are considering are account creation, and password reset. For account creation, the new user will need to identify themselves by some meaningful combination of name, id number, social security number, and birthday. It is true that this could be done by someone other than the individual themselves, but we expect that issues that will arise from it will be able to be handled manually. Once identity is confirmed in this manner, we require them to give us a valid external email address, to which we will send a password reset link, which will activate their account. The password reset will reuse the email functionality from the account creation process, except that the user will not be allowed to specify an email address, since one should already be on file for the user. Users without external email addresses on file would have to call the help desk. We haven't implemented it yet, so I can't give any feedback on how well it works. Ryan On Feb 6, 2012, at 6:17 AM, David Curry wrote: It's been a few years since this has come up on the list, so here goes. For various administrative reasons having nothing to do with security we need to make some big changes to our self-service password reset approach, and I'm trying to capitalize on the opportunity to improve its security at the same time. At the moment, we do what (we think) many other schools do -- provide student id number, netid (username), and date of birth, and you can reset your password. The problem with this is, of course, it was never that hard to come up with that information in the first place, and the combination of students doing more and more stuff online and the growing use of social media makes it just that much easier. So... what other approaches are you taking? There is of course the "pick a few security questions" approach. But it's hard to come up with a set of questions whose answers aren't trivial to guess (either because they have little if any entropy or because the answer is on Facebook). And if you do manage to come up with a set of hard questions, people can't remember what their answers were. Do you use this approach? If so, how have you addressed these problems? We've been tossing around the idea of using something similar to the "email confirmation" links you see many forum-type websites use. In this approach, we would ask the user for some identifying information (netid, student id number, etc.) and then look up the email addresses we have on file. The user could choose any non-university email address in the list, and we would send a randomly-generated URL to that account, which the user could then click on to reset his/her password. Users for whom we have no alternative email on file (or for whom all the ones we have on file are "no good") would have to call the help desk. Does anybody use an approach like this? How well is it working (or not working)? Any other "interesting" approaches out there? Thanks, --Dave -- *DAVID A. CURRY, CISSP* • DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION SECURITY *THE NEW SCHOOL* • 55 W. 13TH STREET • NEW YORK, NY 10011 +1 212 229-5300 x4728 • david.curry () newschool edu
-- Nathan Zierfuss, CISSP, Information Security Officer - Technology Oversight Services, University of Alaska 910 Yukon Dr. Suite 105, PO Box 755320 Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-5320 - Phone: 907-450-8112 Fax: 907-450-8381
Current thread:
- Self-service password reset approaches David Curry (Feb 06)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Ryan D Hiebert (Feb 06)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Nathan Zierfuss (Feb 06)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Steve Werby (Feb 09)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Theresa Rowe (Feb 14)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Roger A Safian (Feb 14)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Theresa Rowe (Feb 14)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Kevin Shalla (Feb 14)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Roger A Safian (Feb 14)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Kevin Shalla (Feb 14)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Roger A Safian (Feb 14)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Kevin Shalla (Feb 14)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Burton, Abigail F (Feb 14)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Theresa Rowe (Feb 14)
- Re: Self-service password reset approaches Ryan D Hiebert (Feb 06)