Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives
Re: passworded screen savers with timeouts, why?
From: Chris Green <cmgreen () UAB EDU>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 17:11:02 -0600
15 minutes is our timeout. Public stations (libraries, labs) where they logout automatically after 15 minutes. There are no screensavers implemented in rooms where presentations are done. Due to our HIPAA implementation, roughly 50% of campus is required to (decision is on a school by school basis). We have a central desktop service center and departments can also run their own services. In our central desktop group, we've engaged it for almost all customers but individual departments can choose to acknowledge the risks and leave it off for one or all workstations. Some of the things we've run into: * Make sure you communicate to the affected folks! We relied on trickle down for these changes and that trickle didn't happen in all areas. * Lab Equipment that is shared across multiple people * Conference Rooms * Shared, but not public, workstations: Unlocking a desktop in a shared office
-----Original Message----- From: Bob Kehr [mailto:rskehr () ucdavis edu] Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 4:50 PM To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU Subject: Re: [SECURITY] passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? We, too, have this policy. It can be a hard sell. Out of curiosity, what is your prescribed time of inactivity before
the
screensaver engages? What environments is it used in (including
faculty
offices?)? -Bob -----Original Message----- From: Chris Green [mailto:cmgreen () UAB EDU] Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 2:36 PM To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU Subject: Re: [SECURITY] passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? I'm assuming by timeouts you mean the screensaver engages after N minutes of inactivity. The reason is to tie the user's logged in state to their actual identity. If someone walks away, someone can now do activity under
the
user's account. An example I use here: If you're logged into our ERP application, you can do self-service payroll adjustment. Wouldn't you hate if someone just sat down and changed YOUR direct deposit to THEIR account? Since people tend to use multiple applications, I try to use the workstation as the place to do locking so people don't have to then
get
into the other 4 applications that have timed out since they went to lunch. That said, it's still a very hard sell in some areas.-----Original Message----- From: Michael Fox [mailto:Mfox () GEORGIASOUTHERN EDU] Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 3:44 PM To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU Subject: [SECURITY] passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? We are in the implementation stage of password and workstation policies. My questions, which comes from a number of users, is why a screen saver with a timeout period that requires entering a password when unlocking the screen saver? I have my answers (not a lot) for this but I would like to see what others would have to say about this. It is part of a DID from my perspective, but not the only piece for the workstation. Any opinions about this one way or another would be appreciated (hopefully most would be for locking the workstation). Oh, by the way we are doing this with Novell Zenworks. Thanks in advance, Mike Mike Fox Georgia Southern University Information Technology Services Office of Information Security mfox () georgiasouthern edu (912)871-1592 Jeremiah 29:11-16
Current thread:
- passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? Michael Fox (Dec 14)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? Selden E Ball Jr (Dec 14)
- Re: passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? Chris Green (Dec 14)
- Re: passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? Bob Kehr (Dec 14)
- Re: passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? Bruce Curtis (Dec 14)
- Re: passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? Chris Green (Dec 14)
- Re: passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? Jim Dillon (Dec 15)
- Re: passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? Valdis Kletnieks (Dec 15)
- Re: passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? Waller, Michael A. (HSC) (Dec 15)
- Re: passworded screen savers with timeouts, why? Geoffrey S. Nathan (Dec 15)