Forty logins for one person
Priya has a login for email, one for the till, one for the stock system and one for each shared drive. When she leaves, IT must delete all of them.
They find out a month later that one was missed. A stranger could still sign in.
A single list of people and what they may use would have prevented that.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Directory service | A central list of users, groups and devices that decides who can sign in and what they can use. |
| Single sign-on | Signing in once to reach many systems. |
| Credential | What you show to prove who you are, such as a password. |
| Hash | A short fingerprint of a password. It cannot be turned back into the password. |
| Data classification | Labelling data by how sensitive it is, such as public, internal or confidential. |
| Information asset | Anything of value that holds or handles information, such as a server, a file or a person's record. |
| Asset register | A list of every information asset, its owner, where it is and how sensitive it is. |
| Lockout | Blocking an account for a while after too many wrong passwords. |
| Database | An organised store of records that a program can search. |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can explain how directory services, the sign-in process, passwords, data classification and an asset register apply IAAA.
Starter: the four steps
Have a go
Starter: the four steps
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Cycle 1: directory services
A directory service is one central list of users, groups and devices. Staff sign in against this one list.
It does three jobs. It identifies each person. It authenticates them with a password. It authorises them by group: all of Finance may open the Finance drive.
When Priya leaves, IT disables her one account and every system stops accepting her. That is why firms use one. It can also give single sign-on.
Practised on site
Note
There is no directory server in the lab. You build one on real servers at work or college. For now, learn what it does and why.
Check: the directory
Have a go
Check: the directory
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.