This week, Brandeis’ Library and Technology Services (LTS) department finished the creation of free programs designed to help students change their passwords more easily, LTS Chief Information Officer Michael Corn told The Brandeis Hoot. The mechanisms are available on the LTS web page, and allow students to access locked accounts and change their passwords voluntarily.
The software’s creation was inspired in part by the recent cyber attacks on companies such as Target and eBay, in which thousands of customers’ personal and financial data were stolen. “Brandeis, like every institution is continually under cyberattack from the Internet,” Corn said. “We do want to encourage everyone to periodically change his or her password to minimize the risk of account compromises.”
Using the mechanisms requires students to enter up to two third-party emails and a phone number capable of receiving text messages, which students then can use to reset their passwords. After resetting their information, students must then follow a link in their UNet tools, and follow step-by-step instructions to change their passwords. Once the password is changed, students will have to re-enter their information into the university’s eduroam wifi network. Students can also change passwords directly through their browser settings on their smart phones. The help desk instructions page recommends at least 15 to 20 minutes for people using the services for the first time, in case of low network connection or other obstacles.
Such changes ought to be done regularly rather than wait for a hack or a similar breach. “Almost everything we do these days starts by typing a password. We’ve become somewhat immune to even noticing them,” Corn said. “But if an account is compromised or hacked into the damage can be incredible.” Corn recommends using installable password managers to students who may have trouble creating multiple strong passwords. “We do want to encourage everyone to periodically change his or her password to minimize the risk of account compromises,” Corn said.
The reset mechanisms are part of a group of new services available from LTS, including “Box” and “Gartner,” two new information technologies now available to Brandeis students. Box and Gartner, an encrypted storage service and a market research source respectively, were announced through a mass email from Corn earlier this week. Both services are available in mobile and desktop form and are accessible with students’ standard Brandeis logins.
Corn credits the work of LTS staff with the timely creation and installation of new services and programs. “We have a great team of developers at LTS,” Corn said. “These services in particular were developed by Jim Lambert and Garth Sainio who are part of our Identity Management team.” Despite the current availability of the programs, the staff are still always ready to improve their work. “Of course anything that touches so many people in the community gets reviewed and worked on by a broad swath of our staff,” Corn added. “And we’re in the midst of completing some final testing and documentation review by rolling out these changes to everyone who works in LTS.” The Brandeis student body will be informed of the new programs via an official email in the near future, according to Corn. In the meantime, the password mechanisms are available online.
