How do I help someone reset their password?
A few select users on campus have the power to reset passwords for other people. If you believe you need to have this ability, please submit a ticket with the Problem Type "Password/Account" and Category "Email/Huxley/Blackboard."
If you have this ability, you can help students and faculty reset forgotten passwords.
If someone has forgotten their password, and they did not record an alternate email address with us, then they will have to visit you in person to get their password reset. Never reset a password over the phone; no amount of Q & A can verify their identity. You should always check their photo ID in person.
Once you've ascertained that the person is who they claim to be, you can log in to the CS/IT website (use the CS/IT Login link at the bottom of the left sidebar) and click on Reset A Password in the left sidebar. Enter the username, and it will generate a password reset code. (Or, if appropriate, an account activation code; the system is smart enough to figure this out on its own, though, so you don't need to worry about it.) Print the resulting page and give it to the user.
When you reset a user's password, their old password will stop working. So even if they remember their password afterwards, they still have to go through the process of resetting their password.
Although these reset codes are not passwords, they're still sensitive, and are subject to many of the same controls as passwords:
- NEVER send a password reset code via email. Email is a fundamentally insecure medium, and a password or code sent via email should be considered compromised.
- NEVER give out a password reset code over the phone. You cannot check ID over the phone; even verifying personal information is insufficient.
- NEVER send a password reset code via postal mail without ID checking. Letters are routinely delivered to the wrong recipients. Multiple people live at the same address. It's not possible to verify that the password was delivered to the correct person. If you have to send a code via mail, you must send the envelope via certified mail with ID checking.
