Libraries To Begin Securing E-Resources with PINs

Beginning in mid-August, everyone accessing HOLLIS’s electronic resources will need to use their University personal identification numbers (PINs) in place of their nine digit University I.D. numbers.

The change, which applies to resources like the database LEXIS-NEXIS and the journal storage system J-STOR, is part of a move to tighten electronic security in the libraries and the University as a whole, according to library spokesperson Beth S. Brainard.

“It helps us meet the contractual agreements [limiting access to Harvard affiliates] that we have with the electronic publishers,” Brainard said.

To ensure that all students and faculty will be able to use the new system, the University intends to send reminders to everyone who does not have a University PIN before the change takes effect on Aug. 19—two days after the end of the summer school session.

The changes will only affect those logging into the system from outside the libraries. Computer workstations inside the library will continue to be PIN-free.

This spring the University instituted a new process by which a PIN can be requested via a secure delivery system using email in addition to the traditional means of receiving a new PIN by mail. Both can be requested at www.pin.harvard.edu.

The PIN, which has been used by students primarily to access their grades or view their termbill online, will be expanded in the coming years to ensure a secure way for students, faculty and employees to verify their identity, according to David R. Wamback, manager of information and identification services in Holyoke Center.

Wamback said the University is moving towards implementing the PIN in more situations so that students and employees will not have multiple passwords which might be forgotten or compromised.

“It was recognized that if a universal PIN were used for multiple applications both within a faculty and university-wide, that users would be more likely to remember them and keep them secure,” he said.

There are no security concerns about using the PIN in more situations, since the authentication is done entirely by a central computer, and the individual applications do not ever access PINs, Wamback said.

Use of the PIN has expanded since it was first developed.

Although the first application developed for the PIN system was used by students, other faculties have since begun taking advantage of the system to allow employees to access information.

The Law School has moved to the PIN to allow online registrations and the School of Public Health will begin using the University PIN in the fall. The University also began to allow students to deactivate and reactivate an I.D. online with the PIN, so that students can do so even when the I.D. office is closed.

In the near future a new version of the software will allow students to use alpha-numeric PINs, according to Wamback.

He says that the registrars’ offices of the various faculties are among those working to develop more online services for students and employees, hoping to simplify cross-registration, course lotteries and ordering transcripts online.

“There are many opportunities for the University to streamline its processes, and many will require authentication,” Wamback wrote in an e-mail.

—Staff writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu.