As part of Penn’s Identity & Access Management (IAM) Program, major improvements are coming this fall to the PennKey password reset process. The new process will dramatically improve user experience with a modern, secure, easy-to-use reset application, and should also significantly reduce the number of password help requests for Service Desks.
Who Is Affected?
All current PennKey users and administrators who provide PennKey assistance will be affected by the process changes.
What Will Change?
- The current Challenge-Response PennKey password reset process will be replaced with a new application called “PennKey Self-Service Password Reset” (SSPR).
- The new SSPR application will allow resets via a user’s pre-registered personal email and phone number.
- Before the transition to SSPR, there will be a two-month enrollment period (details coming soon) for current PennKey users to register their preferred personal contact information.
- After SSPR rollout, those who enrolled can use the application to send a password reset link to their registered personal email. After completing the reset, a verification message will be sent to both the user’s registered personal email and phone number.
- Those who choose not to enroll will have to contact their LSPs or Service Desks if they need to reset their PennKey passwords after SSPR rollout.
Note: Users’ registered personal emails and phone numbers will not be shared by SSPR with other University systems or used for any purpose other than password reset. Both are required to meet the security standards published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
More Information
For more details on this rollout, see the PennKey Self-Service Password Reset project page. For more information on IAM, please visit Penn’s Identity & Access Management Program website.