Improving Identity Protection at UC
by Michael Calhoun and Kevin McLaughlin
In today's complex world, technology is used extensively to enable the ever-growing list of things that have become an integral part of our everyday lives: ID cards, credit cards, and Internet based services, to name a few. In all cases where a personalized service is involved, proof is required that you are who you portray yourself to be. Because services have evolved organically, originating from an unlimited number of sources, we find ourselves with hosts of unique user identities, usually amounting to one per person, per service that is used.
To address the ever-growing concern over protecting one's personal identity from unauthorized use, and to improve the way we conduct business at the University of Cincinnati, we have implemented a highly secure, centralized system, as the authoritative source of information about what systems and data a person is authorized to access. Our centralized system also reduces the number of unique credentials a person needs to conduct business using UC systems. The following UC services and systems are using the Central Login Service (CLS):
- UC Flex
- OneStop
- Faculty Grading
- GetIt (UCit's online ordering system)
- Gartner Portal
During 2006, UCit implemented the following improvements in the area of Identity Management:
- conversion of the student ID number from the SSN to the M number
- conversion of the employee ID number from the SSN to the M number
- creation of the Create Student Identity Utility for open enrollment students
- enabling the OneStop Service Center to be able to create a username and UCID that will let a student sign up for classes immediately rather than having to wait 24 hours
- creation of the Create Affiliate Identity page, to allow the badging office to set up affiliate associations in real time
Much works remains to be done, but much has been accomplished. As we continue to make improvements, we will inform the affected communities, and provide instructions, if necessary.
|
