Configure Authentication Policies

An authentication policy is a template containing predefined parameters enforced during authentication, such as password lengths or constraints, OTP synchronization protocols, Push Notification Signature details...

Authentication policies can be one of three different types:

• Username/Password (LOGIN or UP) policies define password rules (for example, password history) and password complexity rules (for example, password must contain numbers or special characters, etc.)
• Security Questions/Memorable Data (SQ) policies are assigned a set of security questions to create a pool of applicable questions that can be displayed, selected, and used by the user population that are assigned that specific authentication policy
• Device-based (DEVICE) policies are assigned a set of applicable credential types that are associated to user’s devices. For instance, an OTP device authentication policy could have a combination of OOB, OATH or ActivID SKI credentials.

Authentication policy parameters include attributes, validity, channel and gateway assignments and constraint settings.

You configure authentication policies using the ActivID Management Console.

Create an Authentication Policy

1. Log on to the ActivID Management Console as a Configuration Manager.

2. Select the Configuration tab and, under Policies, select Authentication and then Authentication Policies.



All existing authentication policies are listed in a paged table. The total number of authentication policies is given in the lower left corner.

Each row corresponds to an authentication policy. It provides the following information in the different columns:

• Code – the unique code identifying the authentication policy
• Name – the name of the authentication policy
• Description – a description of the authentication policy
• Adapter – the authentication policy adapter associated with the authentication policy
• Class – the authentication policy class (type)

Launch the Authentication Policy Creation Wizard

1. Click Add.



2. Enter the main information for the Authentication policy and click Next:

• Name – should be unique for ease of administration.
• Code – a value is automatically generated but it can be changed. The code must be unique, a minimum of three characters, and a maximum of 10 characters. It cannot be changed once the authentication policy is created.
• Description – (optional) content is free-format.
3. Proceed to Define the Attributes Settings.

Define the Attributes Settings

The Attributes are the general parameters of the policy.

1. From the Class drop-down list, select the required policy type – Login, Security Questions or Device.

2. From the Authentication Adapter drop-down list, select the required adapter A functional module that supports a specific authentication scheme. Authentication adapters are specific to Authentication classes. You select an authentication adapter during authentication policy configuration..

This is the software that provides the authentication service for the authentication policy. The adapter handles requests for authentication made through the authentication policy.

Class	Adapter
LOGIN	4TRESS Username-Password adapter
Security Questions	4TRESS Memorable Data adapter
DEVICE	4TRESS LDAP Username-Password adapter Credential Authentication adapter Transaction Signing Credential Authentication adapter

Important: You must select an adapter that is compatible with the authentication class and purpose. The available adapters depend on the selected authentication class.

3. From the Authentication Adapter Manager drop-down list, select the required manager.

This is the software that manages data storage and retrieval for an authentication record during its life cycle.

• 4TRESS - LDAP authenticator manager for the LDAP authentication with the Device authentication class
• 4TRESS - Device authenticator manager for the Device authentication class
• 4TRESS - UP authenticator manager for the Login authentication class
• 4TRESS - MD authenticator manager for the Memorable Data/Security Questions authentication class
Important: You must select an adapter manager that is compatible with the authentication class.

4. Click Next and Define the Validity Settings.

Define the Validity Settings

The Validity parameters are related to the validity of the authentication records created from this authentication policy.

1. Enter the required parameter values:

   Parameter	Description
   Valid days after creation	The default expiration period of an authentication record, as a number of days, starting from the date of creation of the authentication record. To apply the new expiration period to the new authentication records, edit this field for an existing authentication policy. The pre-edited expiration period continues to apply to existing authentication records set up under the authentication policy.
   Valid days after update	The default expiration period of an authentication record when the password is changed, starting from the date the password is changed. For a Security Questions authentication policy, this value will be high, since Security Questions responses will not be expected to change over time.
   Disable threshold	The maximum number of successive failed attempts by a user to log on using an incorrect password before the password is locked.
   Default expiry threshold	The number of times a user can authenticate using a password before the password expires. It corresponds to the Maximum number of successful authentications allowed. If you do not want to use the expiration threshold functionality, then enter a value of -1.
   Session inactivity time-out (ms)	Time (in milliseconds) after which an idle session is automatically terminated. The value should be lower than that set for the global Session Timeout parameter.
   Session timeout (ms)	The maximum period, in milliseconds, that a user authenticated via this authentication policy can sustain their session before being prompted to re-authenticate by logging on again.
   Disabled time reset(s)	Enter this value in seconds. This value enables the auto-unlock feature. If an authenticator is locked for any reason (for example, it reached the max authentication count), it’s possible to unlock the authenticator (if you have set this to a value other than zero). For example, if you configure the value to be 120 seconds (two minutes), then by setting Disabled Time Reset, it will automatically unlock the authenticator when the user tries to authenticate after two minutes.
   Password reset format	Defines the format for the password reset file. For standard formatting, select None. When specifying ANSI X9.8 PIN encryption, the password must be numeric and be between 4 and 12 digits long. Note: This feature is not currently supported.
   Change password after expiry	Enables an operator to log on with a password beyond the password’s expiration date. However, the user is requested to change the password immediately. The number entered in the field specifies the number of times the user can enter the existing expired password in an attempt to change it before being denied further access.

2. Click Next and Define the Assignments Settings.

Define the Assignments Settings

In the Assignments tab, define the policy’s channels The means through which users interact with an organization, system, or workspace where they perform operations. A channel defines the method of access for which a User Authentication method (or privilege) is valid. and delivery gateways.

1. Select one or more channels to which to link the new authentication policy by moving them to the Selected Channels list.

The Available Channels list specifies all the channels that currently exist in your system.

You can move the channels by dragging and dropping, or using the arrow buttons:

• To move a single channel, select the required channel and click the forward arrow .
• To move several channels simultaneously, use the Ctrl or Shift keys to select the required channels and click the forward arrow .
• To move all the channels, click the forward-all arrow .

You can use the backward arrows to restore the selected channel(s) to the Available list.

2. Select one or more gateways to manage the delivery of Out-of-Band (OOB) messages and passwords by moving them to the Selected Delivery Gateways list.

The Available Delivery Gateway list specifies all the gateways that currently exist in your system.

Note:
• There are no default gateways. You can configure gateways using the ActivID Management Console.
• Delivery Gateways are only used for OOB authentication (such as SMS and Push-based validation).

You can move the gateways by dragging and dropping, or using the arrow buttons:

• To move a single gateway, select the required gateway and click the forward arrow .
• To move several gateways simultaneously, use the Ctrl or Shift keys to select the required gateways and click the forward arrow .
• To move all the gateways, click the forward-all arrow .

You can use the backward arrows to restore the selected gateways(s) to the Available list.

Important:
• The order for the selected delivery gateways is important!
• You must configure the delivery gateways if the authentication policy is an OOB type.

3. Click Next and Define the Advanced Settings (Tiered Authentication).

Define the Advanced Settings (Tiered Authentication)

In the Advanced tab, set the Level of Assurance (LOA) service name and base authentication policy for tiered-authentication Authentication can be tiered into two types - primary and secondary authentication - and involves the use of more than one level of authentication to enable a user to access data and carry out particular actions. As the first authentication in a session is considered the Primary authentication, all subsequent authentications in the session are considered to be Secondary authentications..

The Level of Assurance (LoA) Level of Assurance (LoA) is the level of confidence in the claimed identity of a user during authentication See also ACR value (also known as the ACR Authentication context class reference (ACR) specifies the rules required by a provider or relying party that define how a user authenticates to mitigate specific authentication risks See also LoA value) defines the level of assurance provided by the authentication process to the user's claim to the 'identity' they use to authenticate.

ActivID Appliance selects the optimal authentication methods available to the user in order to meet the level required by the application/service based on the values defined for the associated authentication policy.

1. Enter the Level Of Assurance service name (that is, one of the integer values in the table below).

   Identity authentication level service values can be configured with integer values 1, 2, 3 or 4.

   The value can also be a chain of characters that correspond to the OpenID Connect acr claim, such as urn:openbanking:psd2:sca or urn:openbanking:psd2:ca that respectively represent the strong or normal PSD2 authentication method.

   LoA can typically be defined for SAML transactions. Each assurance level describes the recipient’s degree of certainty that the user has presented an identifier that refers to their identity.

   LoA values can be configured at Authentication Adapter level or Credential adapter level. However, if both are configured, then the authentication adapter LoA takes precedence.

   In this context, an LoA Service value can be associated to an authentication policy.

   LoA (Int)	Definition	LoA (String)
   1	Little or no confidence in the asserted identity’s validity.	urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:post:ac:classes:nist-800-63:v1-0-2:1
   2	Some confidence in the asserted identity’s validity.	urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:post:ac:classes:nist-800-63:v1-0-2:2
   3	High confidence in the asserted identity’s validity.	urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:post:ac:classes:nist-800-63:v1-0-2:3
   4	Very high confidence in the asserted identity’s validity.	urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:post:ac:classes:nist-800-63:v1-0-2:4

   With this configuration, the service provider (SP) authentication process adapter will return (in the SAML assertion) the LoA string as a value for one of the SP attributes defined in the SP metadata. For further details on how to return values in SAML assertions, see Configure SAML Assertion Settings.

2. To set this authentication policy as the ‘child’ policy in a tiered-authentication deployment, from the drop-down list, select the Base authentication policy as the ‘parent’ policy.

   This means the user will need to make a successful authentication with the authentication policy chosen as the base type (that is, a static password), before being prompted to authenticate using the ‘child’ authentication policy (that is, a One-Time Password). Both authentications need to succeed for the tiered-authentication to succeed.

   If you are not configuring for tiered authentication, leave the setting as None.

3. Click Next and Define the Constraints.

Define the Constraints

In the Constraints tab, define the specific constraints parameters depending on the authentication policy class chosen in Attributes tab and click Save.

Edit an Authentication Policy

1. Log on to the ActivID Management Console as a Configuration Manager.

2. Select the Configuration tab and, under Policies, select Authentication and then Authentication Policies.

2. Click the Code of the authentication policy that you want to edit.

3. Edit the settings as required in each tab.

All the tabs are accessible and all settings can be modified except the:

• Code
• Class

4. Click Save to apply your changes.

If you want to cancel the operation, click Back to List.

Delete an Authentication Policy

1. Log on to the ActivID Management Console as a Configuration Manager.

2. Select the Configuration tab and, under Policies, select Authentication and then Authentication Policies.



3. To delete one or more authentication policies, select the check boxes to the left of the policy names and click Delete.



4. Click Yes to delete the policies, or No to cancel the operation.

See also:

Configure the Push-Based Validation Authentication Policies

Configure the ActivID IdP Authentication Policies Mappings