A federal bureau with geographically scattered employees needed 24/7 password reset capabilities. Avatier's Password Station delivered round-the-clock self-service and stronger security policies.
Forgotten passwords and network lockouts plagued The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), a component of the United States Treasury Department that regulates and collects excise taxes on the sale of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and ammunition. Further complicating matters, the nationwide staff includes field auditors working after the help desk closes at 8 p.m. Eastern. “If you missed that window, you were basically out of luck until the next day”, said Mike Borland, Assistant CIO of Infrastructure at TTB.
Password Station has been well accepted, especially by our field auditors.
To provide round-the-clock service for password reset requests, TTB selected Avatier’s Password Station. Users reset passwords or unlock accounts by answering private questions from their login screen or providing a PIN to a telephone reset system. Password Station also synchronizes passwords across applications so the user only needs to remember one secure password. In addition, TTB implemented Password Bouncer, another component of the Avatier Identity Management Suite (AIMS), that enforces password policies. Because users securely reset their password in minutes, the bureau can require stronger, harder-to-crack passwords. With the deployment of Password Station TTB saw help desk volume fall by nearly 300 calls per month. “Probably less than 15 percent of our calls are for password reset. It’s been well accepted, especially by our field auditors”, said Borland.