During lockdown, expert review will ensure staff and students have safe and secure access to essential digital resources.
As coronavirus means that educational institutions across the country are relying more heavily than ever on remote learning, Jisc is offering colleges and universities a free health check on the Shibboleth Identity Provider within the UK federation, which gives students and staff access to vital digital resources.
Shibboleth, a platform that can provide single-sign-on capability for access to various online materials, is a cornerstone for many higher and further education providers whose users need access both on and off campus. It is particularly important for the continuation of learning through lockdown.
How does the health check work?
The health check will usually be undertaken remotely and will be delivered through Jisc’s trust and identity consultancy team.
The check will ensure that the Shibboleth Identity Provider is functioning fully and safely, to ensure IT teams and libraries are able to continue reaping the benefits of the service. This will include checking that the operating system is secure and correctly patched, that it is correctly releasing attributes and platform stability, including making sure that organisations are using a supported version of Shibboleth, and that the operating system has enough resource.
Dr Rhys Smith, chief technical architect, trust and identity, at Jisc, says:
“In these extraordinary times, the proper and secure functioning of UK federation identity providers is of paramount importance so that users can get easy, quick and secure access to services.
A health check from Jisc’s experts can identify any areas of improvement for performance, resilience and security, and ensure the platform is fit for purpose and working to help deliver the critical services that organisations depend on.”
Jisc is also offering up to three hours of free consultancy following the health check, in order to deal with any problems that may be highlighted.
Mark Williams, federation services manager at Jisc, says:
“We hope that the consultancy will support the access and authentication demands of institutions as they continue with online delivery as part of the sector response to the situation created by COVID-19.
“The health check will ensure end users are getting the correct access to resources and services via the UK federation, through appropriate security and attribute release.
"Additionally, the consultancy can help research-focused institutions support the international science community respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by enabling them to understand how to release research and scholarship attributes to that community.”
Find out more
Health checks will be scheduled on a first-come-first-served basis and a prerequisite for the check is that institutions are running an up-to-date Shibboleth IdPv3 or above.
To find out more about how your institution can benefit from the free health check, email trustandidentity@jisc.ac.uk.
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