How to boost Security with Self-Service Password Resets

What happens back an agent at your alignment forgets their password? If your abode is like many, a abandoned countersign bliss off a frustrating, time-consuming process.

The agent charge acquaintance the IT administration and again delay for them to acknowledge to the request. And in the meantime? Their assignment abundance plummets, all-overs increases, and deadlines are jeopardized.

But is there a bigger way to handle the countersign displace process? Are there allowances to acceptance end-users to ascendancy their own countersign resets? The acknowledgment is yes.

In this post, we’ll altercate the allowances of acceptance users to displace their passwords and highlight means to accomplish defended countersign resets with on-premises Active Directory.

The Benefits of Self-Service Password Reset

There are assorted allowances to acceptance end-users to administer their own, passwords, including:

• Saving time (and money): If users can displace their anniversary passwords — in an Active Directory account, a Microsoft 365 anniversary or addition affectionate of anniversary — they don’t accept to ask IT for help. This represents a huge abeyant time accumulation for the IT team, acceptation technicians can focus on added mission-critical, higher-value tasks.

  Additionally, acceptance users to displace their own passwords saves money. When you accede that responding to anniversary IT abutment admission costs a business amid $15 and $37, and countersign displace calls generally represent 20% to 40% of IT calls, it’s accessible to see how facilitating self-service countersign resets will abate costs.

• Reducing accident of amusing engineering attacks: Many cybercriminals use countersign displace requests as an befalling to accretion acceptance to a system, arch to adverse (and expensive) after-effects — aloof ask MGM Resorts or EA Games, who fell victim to amusing engineering attacks in the accomplished few years.

  In a amusing engineering attack, the cybercriminal may pretend to be a user extensive out to IT for a countersign reset, acquisitive to deceive the artisan into accouterment the advice so they can accretion acceptance to the account.

However, amusing engineering is no best an affair if an alignment uses a third-party apparatus to administer the countersign displace action — acceptance requests based on specific belief like a ancient cipher from a accessory angry to a user.

Because the animal agency is eliminated, so is the accident of the animal (the IT tech) aback aperture the data.

• Empowering end-users: Allowing self-service countersign resets empowers users, acceptance them to bound achieve acceptance to their anniversary and get on with their day after accepting to delay for an IT abutment artisan to intervene. This is abnormally accessible back the user needs to displace a countersign backward in the evening, on a weekend, or during a holiday, back IT technicians are beneath acceptable to be on-call and available.

Technical Solution: Active Directory accompanying with Microsoft 365

Many organizations with an on-premises Active Directory additionally accept a Microsoft 365 tenant. In these situations, the on-premises AD agenda is synchronized with the Microsoft 365 addressee application Azure AD Connect apparatus to accept the aforementioned users, groups, etc.

It’s account acquainted that Microsoft offers the "Self-Service Password Reset" (SSPR) functionality, whose analysis methods can be the aforementioned as for multi-factor affidavit to facilitate the implementation.

To use Microsoft's SSPR, your alignment charge accept one of the afterward user licenses:

• Microsoft Entra ID P1
• Microsoft Entra ID P2
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium
• Microsoft 365 E3
• Microsoft 365 E5

When the user needs to displace their password, they’ll use their smartphone or addition computer to acceptance the Microsoft aperture — either by beat on "I forgot my password" on the login folio or afterwards an incorrect countersign access application the articulation on the awning that appears during the “password incorrect” message.

Technical Solution: Active Directory and Specops uReset. Looking for addition way to displace passwords and advantage your absolute 3rd allotment MFA investment?

Specops offers uReset, which altogether integrates with Active Directory, acceptance users to displace their passwords from their computer’s Windows login screen.

They can calmly amend the bounded buried credential back alien so they can accumulate working. They additionally accept bright and activating end-user feedback.

Specops uReset offers two primary functionalities to the user:

• The adeptness to abide a self-service countersign displace from the Windows login interface
• The adeptness to change the countersign from the Windows login interface or already logged in — article that is advantageous back the user needs to displace a countersign and is alive remotely, as they can displace their countersign alike if they can’t affix to the VPN

To use Specops uReset, you charge annals anniversary user. Administrators can automatically accept users with any provider that has identifier advice in Active Directory — Mobile Code, Duo Security, Symantec VIP, Okta, PingID, and added — with no action appropriate on the user’s part.

During enrollment, the user will additionally annals with added affidavit methods, including SMS code, e-mail, Yubikey, Microsoft Authenticator, Google Authenticator, biometric authentication, abstruse questions, Duo, and more.

The band-aid agent can additionally absolutely configure the user interface, alteration accessible languages, text, and more. They can accredit a cardinal of stars to anniversary user affidavit method, giving one adjustment greater weight in agreement of its aegis configuration.

Then, back the user wants to displace their password, they charge aboriginal verify their character application assorted affidavit methods, ultimately accepting abundant stars to prove that they are the artist of the request.

Specops uReset

Specops uReset is a amalgam SaaS solution. The user adverse apparatus are hosted and the alone basic deployed locally on your basement is a Gatekeeper server. However, all user allotment advice is stored in the Active Directory, not the cloud, back the closing serves alone as a relay.

Specops uReset artlessly adds its attributes to the Active Directory, autumn ethics ??securely. And deployment is aboveboard with a accumulation policy; you alone charge to arrange an abettor on the user workstation.

From an IT abutment perspective, Specops’ Secure Service Desk band-aid allows IT pros to accidentally accredit users by allurement them to verify their character application a configured affidavit method. This access not alone helps action character annexation but additionally helps the alignment assure itself from amusing engineering attempts.

To advance your company’s abundance — both for your end users and your IT abutment technicians — accede a self-service countersign displace solution.

Not alone will this blazon of band-aid abate calls to your helpdesk, but it will additionally save time, abate costs, empower users, and advice abate the accident of abstracts accident through amusing engineering hacks.

By advance in a self-serve countersign displace solution, you’ll be advocacy efficiency, abbreviation frustration, and advance in your company’s short- and abiding success.

Sponsored and accounting by Specops Software.