Re: Authentication of remote users

[Scott Fendley <scottf () UARK EDU>]

Ooooo.  That is a loaded question.  I have seen two different ways
that banks have done this.

1)  Ask you questions about bank account such as a check # and amount.
2) Ask you which branch you visit most often and ship you off there
to be authenticated by a teller who is most likely to know you from
the number of visits you make.  (My bank makes their tellers learn
their customer's names within 2 visits so hopefully they will know
you are called Stef versus Stephanie and make you willing to come back again.)

Both of these have faults to them and haven't had occasion to test
them in the past few years to see if they have another alternative
should you need access to your money and can't go through normal
procedures like visiting your local branch with photo id.

Scott


At 11:43 AM 1/3/2008, Robert Paterson wrote:
> How does your bank? Best, Rob
>
> Dr. Robert Paterson
> Chief Information Officer
> Salem State College
> Salem MA 01970
> robert.paterson () salemstate edu
> 978-542-6446
>
> >>> On 1/3/2008 at 12:40 PM, in message <477D1E2B.5060100 () jmu edu>,
> Gary Flynn <flynngn () JMU EDU> wrote:
>
>
> Lets say you have a user that:
>
> 1) forgot their password
> 2) forgot their answers to their secret question(s)
> 3) is traveling making visiting the helpdesk impossible
>
> Lets also say asking for last four digits of SSN is
> not allowed.
>
> How do you authenticate the identity of the user and
> allow them to change their password?
>
>
> --
> Gary Flynn
> Security Engineer
> James Madison University
> www.jmu.edu/computing/security