InCommon Federation - Participant Operational Practices

The text of this document is taken from the InCommon Federation's "Participant Operations Practices" document.

The University of Hawaii's responses to the InCommon Federation's "Participant Operations Practices" are highlighted in beige.

Participation in the InCommon Federation ("Federation") enables a federation participating organization ("Participant") to use Shibboleth identity attribute sharing technologies to manage access to on-line resources that can be made available to the InCommon community. One goal of the Federation is to develop, over time, community standards for such cooperating organizations to ensure that shared attribute assertions are sufficiently robust and trustworthy to manage access to important protected resources. As the community of trust evolves, the Federation expects that participants eventually should be able to trust each other's identity management systems and resource access management systems as they trust their own.

A fundamental expectation of Participants is that they provide authoritative and accurate attribute assertions to other Participants, and that Participants receiving an attribute assertion protect it and respect privacy constraints placed on it by the Federation or the source of that information. In furtherance of this goal, InCommon requires that each Participant make available to other Participants certain basic information about any identity management system, including the identity attributes that are supported, or resource access management system registered for use within the Federation.

Two criteria for trustworthy attribute assertions by Identity Providers are: (1) that the identity management system fall under the purview of the organization's executive or business management, and (2) the system for issuing end-user credentials (e.g., PKI certificates, userids/passwords, Kerberos principals, etc.) specifically have in place appropriate risk management measures (e.g., authentication and authorization standards, security practices, risk assessment, change management controls, audit trails, etc.).

InCommon expects that Service Providers, who receive attribute assertions from another Participant, respect the other Participant's policies, rules, and standards regarding the protection and use of that data. Furthermore, such information should be used only for the purposes for which it was provided. InCommon strongly discourages the sharing of that data with third parties, or aggregation of it for marketing purposes without the explicit permission of the identity information providing Participant.

InCommon requires Participants to make available to all other Participants answers to the questions below.

1. Federation Participant Information

1.1 The InCommon Participant Operational Practices information below is for:

InCommon Participant organization name

University of Hawaii

The information below is accurate as of this date

May 28, 2010

1.2 Identity Management and/or Privacy information

Additional information about the Participant's identity management practices and/or privacy policy regarding personal information can be found on-line at the following location(s).

UH Identity and Access Management Overview: (additional info)

1.3 Contact information

The following person or office can answer questions about the Participant's identity management system or resource access management policy or practice.

2. Identity Provider Information

The most critical responsibility that an Identity Provider Participant has to the Federation is to provide trustworthy and accurate identity assertions.   It is important for a Service Provider to know how your electronic identity credentials are issued and how reliable the information associated with a given credential (or person) is.

Community

2.1

If you are an Identity Provider, how do you define the set of people who are eligible to receive an electronic identity?  If exceptions to this definition are allowed, who must approve such an exception?

The University of Hawaii employs various Systems of Records (e.g. human resources, student registrar, etc.) to identify individuals associated with the University. The UH Identity and Access Management (IAM) system integrates and manages this data in a centralized Person Registry and provisions electronic identities for students, faculty, staff, and other designated or sponsored affiliates in good standing. Specifically authorized administrative personnel may also designate individuals not otherwise explicitly identified by a system of record as eligible for an electronic identity.

2.2

"Member of Community" is an assertion that might be offered to enable access to resources made available to individuals who participate in the primary mission of the university or organization.  For example, this assertion might apply to anyone whose affiliation is "current student, faculty, or staff."

What subset of persons registered in your identity management system would you identify as a "Member of Community" in Shibboleth identity assertions to other InCommon Participants?

Students, faculty, staff, alumni, retirees, and other designated or sponsored affiliates in good standing.

Electronic Identity Credentials

2.3

Please describe in general terms the administrative process used to establish an electronic identity that results in a record for that person being created in your electronic identity database?  Please identify the office(s) of record for this purpose.  For example, "Registrar's Office for students; HR for faculty and staff."

Offices of record: Human Resources for faculty and staff, Student Registrar offices (one per campus) for students, designated authorized administrative Department and Staff Offices personnel for affiliates.

The University's IAM system generates and assigns a permanent electronic identifier known as a UH Number to persons when they are entered into a System of Record, or manually entered into IAM by authorized administrative personnel known as Campus Identity Representatives.  The UH Number is a prerequisite for obtaining a UH Username via self-service.  A UH Username (equivalent to a userID or netID) may be used, along with a password, for authentication to online services offered by the University.

2.4

What technologies are used for your electronic identity credentials (e.g., Kerberos, userID/password, PKI, ...) that are relevant to Federation activities?  If more than one type of electronic credential is issued, how is it determined who receives which type?  If multiple credentials are linked, how is this managed (e.g., anyone with a Kerberos credential also can acquire a PKI credential) and recorded?

A UH Username and password are used as electronic identity credentials and are stored in an LDAP repository.  Passwords are only stored in an encrypted-hash format, never as clear-text.

2.5

If your electronic identity credentials require the use of a secret password or PIN, and there are circumstances in which that secret would be transmitted across a network without being protected by encryption (i.e., "clear text passwords" are used when accessing campus services), please identify who in your organization can discuss with any other Participant concerns that this might raise for them:

No resources should be available via unencrypted secret credentials. However, if there is a security concern, the University's Information Technology Security Officer should be contacted, (808) 956-2400.

2.6

If you support a "single sign-on" (SSO) or similar campus-wide system to allow a single user authentication action to serve multiple applications, and you will make use of this to authenticate people for InCommon Service Providers, please describe the key security aspects of your SSO system including whether session timeouts are enforced by the system, whether user-initiated session termination is supported, and how use with "public access sites" is protected.

The University implements SSO via the JA-SIG Central Authentication Server (CAS), which is branded as the UH Web Login service. The UH Web Login service has an 8-hour session timeout and also uses session cookies for the ticket granting ticket (TGT) cookie. The 8-hour timeout expires any CAS session that is older than 8 hours. If a session (determined via a user's TGT) is over 8 hours old, the credentials will have to be reentered for access to a SSO resource. The TGT cookie is destroyed when the web browser is closed, thereby ending the CAS session. The next time the person tries to access a SSO resource, CAS will ask again for credentials.

2.7

Are your primary electronic identifiers for people, such as "net ID," eduPersonPrincipalName, or eduPersonTargetedID considered to be unique for all time to the individual to whom they are assigned?  If not, what is your policy for re-assignment and is there a hiatus between such reuse?

The University's primary electronic identifier is the UH Number.  The UH Number is unique for each individual and permanently assigned.  Additionally, the UH Username (similar to netId) is likewise unique for each individual and never reallocated to another individual.

Electronic Identity Database

2.8

How is information in your electronic identity database acquired and updated?  Are specific offices designated by your administration to perform this function?  Are individuals allowed to update their own information on-line?

Authoritative user data is securely provided to the IAM infrastructure by systems of record and updated as necessary to maintain accuracy. In addition to the UH IAM staff, specific designated administrative personnel and University IT Help Desk staff are authorized and enabled to assist the University community with common account administration issues. Individuals have the ability to update some of the non-critical personal and service data associated with their electronic identities.

2.9

What information in this database is considered "public information" and would be provided to any interested party?

No data is public information for students that request confidentiality of their records under FERPA. If a student elects to waive privacy protections provided by FERPA, directory data information may be considered public information. A memorandum on FERPA and Confidentiality of Student Records has been published and specifies the University's definition of student directory information.

Uses of Your Electronic Identity Credential System

2.10

Please identify typical classes of applications for which your electronic identity credentials are used within your own organization.

Email; identity account management; web/portal and collaborative learning applications; administrative systems including financial, human resources, and student information systems; software licensing and distribution; and wireless network access.

Attribute Assertions

Attributes are the information data elements in an attribute assertion you might make to another Federation participant concerning the identity of a person in your identity management system.

2.11

Would you consider your attribute assertions to be reliable enough to:

[X] control access to on-line information databases licensed to your organization?
[X] be used to purchase goods or services for your organization?
[X] enable access to personal information such as student loan status?

Privacy Policy

Federation Participants must respect the legal and organizational privacy constraints on attribute information provided by other Participants and use it only for its intended purposes.

2.12

What restrictions do you place on the use of attribute information that you might provide to other Federation participants?

Non-public information could be released only under explicit agreements reviewed and approved by appropriate University executive authority; such agreements would spell out restrictions on use.

2.13

What policies govern the use of attribute information that you might release to other Federation participants?  For example, is some information subject to FERPA or HIPAA restrictions?

All attributes subject to FERPA and HIPAA restrictions are protected and require per-application approval by appropriate University executive authority; such approvals would spell out restrictions on use.

Service Provider Information

Service Providers are trusted to ask for only the information necessary to make an appropriate access control decision, and to not misuse information provided to them by Identity Providers. Service Providers must describe the basis on which access to resources is managed and their practices with respect to attribute information they receive from other Participants.

3.1

What attribute information about an individual do you require in order to manage access to resources you make available to other Participants? Describe separately for each resource ProviderID that you have registered.

N/A, the University of does not currently have any  Service Providers.

3.2

What use do you make of attribute information that you receive in addition to basic access control decisions? For example, do you aggregate session access records or records of specific information accessed based on attribute information, or make attribute information available to partner organizations, etc.?

N/A, the University of does not currently have any  Service Providers.

3.3

What human and technical controls are in place on access to and use of attribute information that might refer to only one specific person (i.e., personally identifiable information)? For example, is this information encrypted?

Attribute information is encrypted or only accessible to the application administrator(s).

3.4

Describe the human and technical controls that are in place on the management of super-user and other privileged accounts that might have the authority to grant access to personally identifiable information?

Only selected technical representatives of the University have access to stored personal identity information. Access is restricted by strong passwords, access control lists (ACLs) and network firewalls.

3.5

If personally identifiable information is compromised, what actions do you take to notify potentially affected individuals?

UH Executive Policy E2.214, Security and Protection of Sensitive Information, specifies the University's notice and reporting requirements that are in accordance with Hawaii State law. Actions taken as a result of a security breach involving sensitive personal information include timely notification of the breach to the affected individuals and the Hawaii State Legislature. The notification requirements specify multiple modes of communication including traditional mail and phone communications as well as electronic communications. Substitute modes of communications include conspicuous post of the notice on the University's website and notification to major statewide media.

Other Information

4.1 Technical Standards, Versions and Interoperability

Identify the version of Internet2 Shibboleth code release that you are using or, if not using the standard Shibboleth code, what version(s) of the SAML and SOAP and any other relevant standards you have implemented for this purpose.

Shibboleth Identity Provider 2.3.6

4.2 Other Considerations

Are there any other considerations or information that you wish to make known to other Federation participants with whom you might interoperate? For example, are there concerns about the use of clear text passwords or responsibilities in case of a security breach involving identity information you may have provided?

N/A