Auto Signon Building Block

1. AutoSignon - A Reference
Implementation of a Secure Single
Sign-On Blackboard Building Block TM
Richesh Ruchir, Technical Manager
richesh.ruchir@blackboard.com

2. A Reference Implementation of a
Secure Single Signon Blackboard
Building Block™
• Introduction
• Single Sign-On
• Blackboard Authentication Framework
®
• Introduction to AutoSignon
• Implementation Details
• Demo Application
• Open Source Project
• Q&A

3. Single Sign-On
• Identity management is an emerging challenge at
many institutions
• Existing institutional solutions
– CAS, Shibboleth
• Industry standards tackling authentication /
authorization
– OpenID, Basic Learning Tools Interoperability/LTI
• Not all institutions are prepared to invest in complex
solutions
• Smaller institutions may not have a need

4. Blackboard Authentication Framework
®
• LDAP
• Internal database
• Custom authentication mechanism
– Built by clients and by Blackboard Consulting
Services(sm)
– Support for CAS, Shibboleth, and others

5. Introduction to AutoSignon
• Allows users who are authenticated by a trusted
system to access the Blackboard platform without
needing to log in again (Inbound SSO)
• Based on the WebCT CE/Vista Automatic Signon
Protocol
• Uses a MAC (Message Authentication Code)
generated by request parameters and shared
secret to validate incoming SSO requests before
processing

6. AutoSignon Workflow

7. Implementation Details

8. Implementation Details (Contd.)

9. Admin Settings

10. Demo Application
• Reference implementation application

11. Open Source Project
• Available at
http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/project/autosignon/

12. Q & As
?

13. Please provide feedback for this session by emailing
DevConFeedback@blackboard.com.
The subject of the email should be title of this
session:
AutoSignon - A Reference Implementation of a Secure
Single Sign-On Blackboard Building Block TM