Anixis Releases Password Reset

Enterprise Networks & Servers, May 2004

Anixis has released Anixis Password Reset 1.0, a self-service password management system for Windows that allows users to safely manage their own passwords. Even if users forget their passwords, they can gain access to their accounts more securely and efficiently than they can by contacting the help desk or network administrator.

Users who have forgotten their passwords are asked to answer questions about themselves. They can gain access to the system only by answering all questions correctly. The number of questions is configurable, and can range from one to ten. In addition to reducing calls to the help desk, Password Reset's self-service system eliminates the security burden of help desk staff needing to verify the identity of each user with a forgotten password.

System overhead is further reduced because there is no need to install Password Reset on every computer. Users can use a standard Web browser to access Password Reset.

As a security precaution, Password Reset does not store the users' passwords or the answers to their password verification questions. Instead, the program stores the hashes of each user's answers. As a result, there is no way for somebody to break into the Password Reset system and gain access to users' password information. Password Reset uses RSA and AES (Rijndael) encryption algorithms.

Password Reset is fully integrated with Anixis' Password Policy Enforcer, an application for IT managers, security specialists, and internal auditors to establish password policy standards and ensure their enterprise-wide enforcement. Password Reset's integrated auditing allows network administrators to monitor all password management activity.

A free, fully-functional evaluation version is available on the company's Web site.

www.anixis.com