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Security: Trend Report: Identity Management
10/20/2005
So, how d'es your institution get to strong authentication from weak authentication? Some institutions have elected to use an external vendor such as Cybertrust (www.cybertrust.com), Sun Microsystems (www.sun.com), or VeriSign to provide products/systems integration. In addition to cost, one of the challenges to this strategy is the integration of a vendor’s system with the plethora of campus apps (e.g., Blackboard, www.blackboard.com; and Datatel, www.datatel.com.) Other institutions have elected to develop services and software internally, using open software. Most use a mix of both strategies. For example, Indiana University uses the Microsoft Identity Integration Server (www.microsoft.com) as a back end for account generation, and then uses the Yale Central Authentication Service and uPortal (www.uportal.org) open source software on top of Kerberos. Similarly, the University of Miami School of Medicine and George Mason University use Edgewall from Vernier Networks (www.verniernetworks.com) to identify connected machines by their Message Authentication Code (MAC) address, and scan installed software to ensure adherence to institutional policies before connecting the computer to campus applications—in effect, providing two-factor authentication (the user password and the computer itself). The moral: One size d'esn’t fit all.
Institutional Identity and Authentication Checklist
How far do you need to go to achieve true IdM and AuthN?
- D'es everyone associated with your institution have a unique identifier with the following characteristics?
- It is unique within the largest population set in which it is used.
- It is not a SSN or other identifier that can be used in identity theft or other ways that violate individual privacy rights.
- It is simple enough for people to remember.
- It is scalable, if your population set increases.
- Has your institution implemented a single sign-on authentication strategy that provides appropriate levels of security for multiple applications?
- D'es your institution have a process for investigating, testing, and adopting emerging authentication technologies such as PKI and federated identity management schemes (e.g., Shibboleth)?
Doug Gale is president of Information Technology Associates, LLC (www.it associates.org) an IT consultancy specializing in higher education. He has more than 30 years of experience in higher education as a faculty member, CIO, and research administrator.
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