We are starting the new year with a new release of our Authentication Server Suite. This release focuses on four main areas to add value to customers: user self-service, hardware tokens, choosing passwords and auditing. Updates to Password Policy Agent and Windows Desktop Logon Agent are also included to round off this release.
Brand new Self-Service Portal for users
A brand new user self-service portal has been built from the ground up to give a simple and rich user experience on desktops, tablets and phones. The new responsive UI design allows it to be accessed from anywhere, on any device. This gives users an easy way to perform common tasks like adding a new mobile phone or resetting their Active Directory password by themselves.
Support for YubiKey hardware tokens
While many organisations prefer to use soft tokens and device-less (1.5 factor) authentication, there are still some situations where a hardware token is best suited. This is why we have partnered with Yubico to add support for their YubiKey USB hardware into our solution. This handy little USB token does not need batteries, does not need replacing every few years and you don’t have to type in a load of numbers to use it. It can be used with all our Agents, including for logging onto Windows. YubiKey is the 4th authentication technology to be added to our solution, following PINgrid, PINphrase and PINpass.
Helping users choose a new secure password
The new self-service portal includes a tool tip assistant (pictured above) to help a user choose a new Active Directory password. Instead of entering a new password and it being rejected, with little reason why, the tooltip assistant lets users know how their chosen password stacks up against the password policy as they type which saves a great deal of time and aggravation.
This password policy checking functionality is also now available via the WebAPI so it can be easily integrated into other systems.
MFA Auditing Enhancements
We know everybody loves auditing and logging, well some people do. They will be happy to know that we have added more granular information to authentication audit logging entries. In addition to the standard user account details and time stamp, the event log data now states if the login was done using 1.5 or 2 Factor Authentication. With 2 Factor, it will indicate which physical device soft token device, or YubiKey, the user used and if a remote seed was configured. More information for those reports!
The new version also includes minor stability and efficiency improvements and is available as a free upgrade to everyone with an active support agreement or subscription. In-place upgrades are supported and the upgrade is recommended for all customers. Version 3.2 can be downloaded from our downloads page.