What is Password Synchronization?
Password synchronization synchronizes passwords and password changes between different information security systems such as RACF, ACF2, CA-Top Secret, and Microsoft Windows NT security, and different computing environments such as IBM OS/390, Microsoft Windows NT domains, UNIX, AIX, SUN Solaris, HPUX, AS/400, OpenVMS and Novell NetWare, enabling them to work as one. A password change is intercepted and the change propagated to all systems and applications.
It is estimated that many computer users, especially in large organizations, may have 10 to 20 user IDs. Each one of those requires its own password. As such remembering all those user IDs and passwords can be daunting. Password synchronization is a way to make a computer user’s life just a little bit easier by synchronizing passwords so that they all match across multiple systems. The advantages of password synchronization are clear. Those who do so tend to remember their passwords more easily. Also, though some say a uniform password for a user could decrease security, password synchronization may actually help enhance security, because there will be less of a reason for users to write down passwords. Although it may be possible to achieve password synchronization manually, there are software applications that have been developed to automate the process. The software usually operates one of two ways, through a transparent process or a Web-based process. The transparent process of pas
