Service Interruption Summary

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May 15th Service Interruption Summary

At 11:19 pm on May 14 a system error triggered the reset of all Smith user account passwords. This resulted in community members being unable to access services that use their Smith login credentials for authentication.  

The error was initiated by our Identity Management (IDM) system attempting to pull data from Banner while Banner was refreshing the data. This occurrence caused all accounts to briefly appear as reactivated accounts. A new rule, which was implemented on April 19, 2018 to facilitate password resets for returning Smith community members, was then triggered and reset all passwords resulting in the service interruption.

A more technical explanation of our findings and the systems and processes involved can be found here.

Restoration of services:

At approximately 2:22 pm on May 15 we reset user passwords from a system backup file. Passwords that did not comply with our current password security parameters, which had been implemented in 2012, could not be restored and needed to be manually reset.  To expedite this process ITS personnel were deployed throughout campus to process password resets as needed. We also staffed drop-in support locations in Seelye Hall and Stoddard Hall, and extended telephone support hours on May 15 and 16.

Corrective Actions taken:

To prevent this error from recurring we have disabled the “Returning Person” rule and restricted the times that the IDM can access data in Banner so that it cannot coincide with the refresh process.