Set Session Limits Using Context

Session limits typically cover 4 main items: total number of sessions a user can have at any one time, the max length of each session, the max idle time and max caching time.

In an out of the box deployment in ForgeRock AM, these settings are configured via the session service. However there are few tweaks than can be made to allow these settings to be run via a per user or per tree flow. For example. think of the following scenario - user is logging via a device, location or network that has a higher risk rating.

Perhaps you would like to reduce session length on a BYOD device running an out of support version of Android to have a length of only 15 minutes. If they switched back to their main trusted device, we can spin that back to 1hr.

Another example, could be the spotting of a higher suspicion of bot activity for a particular user. Maybe we need to set the entire quota limit to 1, to stop a bot spawning multiple sessions with the same credentials.

This is all pretty trivial to do.

First, add the session on a per user basis. Navigate to the user identity in the UI and simply add in the session service:

You could of course add that service programatically. It's an entry on the user's profile within the idRepo and use a connector via IDM or a simple REST call.

So how can we alter dynamically? Well in AM 7.0, we have extended the scripted decision bindings, so they can access the profile store directly - basically a getter/setter methods to read and write profile data.

As the session service on the user is essentially a set of LDAP attributes added to the user profile, we can alter directly as we please, during an authentication tree flow.

Clearly the scripting aspect could be used to increase or decrease the main session service values as necessary. The four attributes to manipulate are:

"iplanet-am-session-max-caching-time"

"iplanet-am-session-quota-limit"

"iplanet-am-session-max-session-time"

"iplanet-am-session-max-idle-time"

These should be pretty self explanatory.

A basic script to reduce session length to 1 minute could look like the following:

//Set max session length

var sessionMaxTime = "iplanet-am-session-max-session-time";

var sessionMaxTimeValue = "1"; //minutes

logger.message("Set Session Script: " + sessionMaxTime + " " + sessionMaxTimeValue + " for user " + currentUser);

idRepository.setAttribute(currentUser, sessionMaxTime, [sessionMaxTimeValue]);

Comments

WebAuthn Authentication in AM 6.5

ForgeRock AccessManagement 6.5, will have out of the box integration for the W3C WebAuthn. This modern “FIDO2” standard allows cryptographic passwordless authentication – integrating with a range of native authenticators, from USB keys to fingerprint and facial recognition systems found natively in many mobile and desktop operating systems.
Why is this so cool? Well firstly we know passwords are insecure and deliver a poor user experience. But aren’t there loads of strong MFA solutions out there already? Well, there are, but many are proprietary, require complex integrations and SDK’s and ultimately, don’t provide the level of agility that many CISO’s and application designers now require.
Rolling out a secure authentication system today, will probably only result in further integration costs and headaches tomorrow, when the next “cool” login method emerges.
Having a standards based approach, allows for easier inter-operability and a more agile platform for change.
AM 6.5 has int…

OAuth2 With Contextual Binding

I've blogged a few times regarding the trend of implementing Zero Trust and CARTA (Continuous Adaptive Risk and Trust Assessment) style journeys during typical Web single sign on flows. I want to riff on that process a little, with an update on how to implement something similar for OAuth2/OIDC access tokens.

Why is this important? Well sometimes it is important to apply some context to a particular authorization flow. Not all access decisions are the same. Think of the following nuanced situations:

Two users with the same set of scopes, have different API consumption patternsA particular user has downloaded a malicious app which alters the botnet reputation of the request IP addressA particular user has registered their work email address with a site that experienced a credentials breachA media site is behind a paywall and limits access to organisational IP ranges, but a user frequently works in the field These sorts of flows, are a little bit different to the standard Proof of…

Implementing Zero Trust & CARTA within AM 6.x

There is an increasing focus on perimeterless approaches to security design and the buzzy "defensive security architectures". This blog will take a brief look at implementing a contextual and continuous approach to access management, that can help to fulfil those design aspirations.

The main concept, is to basically collect some sort of contextual data at login time, and again at resource access time - and basically look for differences between the two. But why is this remotely interesting? Firstly, big walls, don't necessarily mean safer houses. The classic firewall approach to security. Keeping the bad out and the good in. That concept no longer works for the large modern enterprise. The good and bad are everywhere and access control decisions should really be based on data above and beyond that directly related to the user identity, with enforcement as close as possible to the protected resource as possible.

With Intelligent AuthX, we can start to collect and s…

The Identity Cookbook

Search This Blog