International Business Machines Corporation

Jean Elizabeth Hidden

Brian Robert Matthiesen

Gee Ngoo Chia

Stephen James Turcol

An identity management system is augmented to provide for automated suspension of all dormant accounts before launching a re-certification campaign (pass). In one implementation, prior to receiving a recertification notice from the system, the affected user's account is already suspended and thus cannot be accessed. Once the recertification succeeds, however, the account is restored. Preferably, the technique is exposed to an IAM system administrator through a simple interface, e.g., a one-click 'suspend and re-certify' button in an administrative menu. When the administrator initiates the re-certification process, he or she may select the button for a particular account or user.

Reducing risks associated with recertification of dormant accounts

An identity management system is augmented to provide a methodology to generate an objective measure of administrative effectiveness with respect to account certification. In the approach, erroneous account information is intentionally inserted into a recertification campaign. The erroneous account information is tracked through the recertification process and used as a measurement to evaluate whether a particular manager/administrator whose accounts are impacted is successful in recognizing the erroneous account information (e.g., as a percentage of erroneous account records located). The dummy information is tracked and used to generate a quantitative measure of the effectiveness of a particular recertification campaign or a particular manager who is responsible for recertifying accounts. The results can also be used to drive other enterprise metrics and compliance systems.

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Wake Forest, NC, United States of America

Jean Elizabeth Hidden