AutoSignon - A Reference Implementation of a Secure Single Sign-On Blackboard

Building BlockTM

Richesh Ruchir, Technical Manager richesh.ruchir@blackboard.com

A Reference Implementation of a Secure Single Signon Blackboard Building Block™

• Introduction

• Single Sign-On

• Blackboard® Authentication Framework

• Introduction to AutoSignon

• Implementation Details

• Demo Application

• Open Source Project

• Q & A

Single Sign-On

• Identity management is an emerging challenge at many institutions

• Existing institutional solutions

– CAS, Shibboleth

• Industry standards tackling authentication / authorization

– OpenID, Basic Learning Tools Interoperability/LTI

• Not all institutions are prepared to invest in complex solutions

• Smaller institutions may not have a need

Blackboard® Authentication Framework

• LDAP

• Internal database

• Custom authentication mechanism

– Built by clients and by Blackboard Consulting Services(sm)

– Support for CAS, Shibboleth, and others

Introduction to AutoSignon

• Allows users who are authenticated by a trusted system to access the Blackboard platform without needing to log in again (Inbound SSO)

• Based on the WebCT CE/Vista Automatic Signon Protocol

• Uses a MAC (Message Authentication Code) generated by request parameters and shared secret to validate incoming SSO requests before processing

AutoSignon Workflow

Implementation Details

Implementation Details (Contd.)

Admin Settings

Demo Application

• Reference implementation application

Open Source Project

• Available at http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/project/autosignon/

Q & As

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AutoSignon - A Reference Implementation of a Secure Single Sign-On Blackboard

Building BlockTM