Password reset strategy

Introduction

As part of standard operating procedure, the system needs to help users who have forgotten their password or user id in a simple and secure fashion, without any interaction of support staff.

Process

There are two possible initiators:

• The user has forgotten their user name, or
• The user has forgotten their password.

We do not need to care about which piece of information they have forgotten. We will use their registered email address to send them a link allowing them to set their password.

• Users do not like automatically generated passwords
• Sending a new password or a one-time password in an email is insecure
• The password reset link inside the email will only be used:
  • For a short period of time (e.g. 48 hours)
  • Until such time as the password has been reset
• The password reset link will be secure, and any modification must be detectable
  • The user's mailbox may be compromised in the future; the link must not be modifiable (e.g. by changing the username, timestamp etc)