LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND THE FEDERATED IDENTITY
PROVIDER
NARRATIVE ANALYSIS OF RED RIDING HOOD – OPENING
SECTION
Red Riding Hood
Food
Wolf
Grandma
Cuteness
Mother
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Agent
Object
Adversary
Receiver
Helper
Sender
Narrative Analysis of a folktale via Vladimir Propp
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Library
Login details
Wolf?
Protected electronic resources
Open Athens
MD
University
Narrative Analysis of current authentication arrangements
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HOW MUCH IS AT STAKE HERE?
• 27000 Athens users• £875000 annual spend on electronic
resources• A lot of annoyed people, with good
reason, if the authentication service breaks down
OPENATHENS MD AS A HELPER
We have been using this for years
We have routines for administering and supporting the service
It works for Athens and UK federation authenticated resources
We get usage statistics for logins
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What is wrong with current set-up?
Students forget passwords
Password reset does not match email aliases
Some account details never delivered
Students leave, interrupt or extend their studies
Use of resources may be lowered by password problems
How can we identify current staff members?
What are we trying to deliver?
Easy for students to use;
Tied in with University membership;
Abiding by access regulations;
Access wide range of electronic services;
No more information revealed than necessary.
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Will Shibboleth help?
Library
ISAS
Login details
Wolf?
Protected electronic resources
Shibboleth
University
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Shibboleth and the wolves
Locally slow development of Shibboleth
Not all subscribed resources are members of UK federation
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OPENATHENS LA AS A HELPER
Familiar login details;
Existing password reset page;
Usable interface for categories and attributes;
Integrates with University database for staff and students;
Can still use OpenAthens MD for ‘special cases’;
Usage statistics for logins to different resources.
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How about OpenAthens LA?OpenAthens LA and the wolves
Wait for version upgrade close to meeting our needs
Need to set up application ourselves
Need to understand authentication terminology
Need a Service Level Agreement with local LDAP provider
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Progress at De Montfort University
Start mid-2010
UK Access Management Federation registration in December 2010 in hidden mode
Testing authentication and authorisation Jan 2011
Investigating enhancing LDAP data
Re-organisation of IT staff out of Library and into University Central Services department: Feb. 2011
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ON THE ‘TO DO’ LIST
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More testing
Develop launch strategy
Integrate with teaching and support in Library
Explain changes to Faculties
Investigate OpenID, OpenAthens SP
Tame Wolves, make into Helpers