CTAB call January 26, 2021

Attending

Regrets

AI (Brett) work with Albert to do outreach for the new Assured Access WG
AI (CTAB) provide possible written response to REFEDS Baseline Expectations Consultation prior to Jan 31, 2021,
- update as of Jan 26, CTAB members should respond to the consultation as individuals if possible
AI: (Albert) chat with Dean on whether we should expand the list of InCommon newsletter recipients (DONE)

CTAB/NIH Assured Access Working Group

AI Brett will work with Albert to do outreach for the new Assured Access WG
Suggestion to inform all InCommon participants about the new Assured Access working group
Use core group to set meeting time and then inform the community and invite others

Discussions with NIH

eRA (Electronic Research Administration) , which is part of NIH, will require MFA for all eRA users by September 15, 2021
To achieve that goal, eRA has been pointing users to login.gov, where their federated credentials do not support MFA
This brings a sense of urgency for our community to rally to support MFA
eRA uses a NIH gateway that NIH demonstrated at CAMP in 2020
If we speed up implementation to support MFA through that NIH gateway we could have substantial number of users able to use MFA and access eRA
eRA is one collection of services, accessed thru NIH login service
Previously, we had thought that by a certain date all NIH logins would need to have MFA, and by some other date, all federated logins to NIH would need to meet identity proofing requirements
But due to speed with which eRA is progressing, JeffE will pursue an approach to signal or filter, to allow eRA and other NIH services with specific and current MFA needs to use federated authentication from the NIH gateway by February
Will implement account linking

With this linking, if an eRA user gets login.gov credentials, but then subsequently their institution deploys MFA, then the user could use either login approach

This is welcome news and provides more flexibility
Another service mentioned: RAS (Researcher Authorization Service)
RAS will have a data object called a Passport, with approvals affixed to allow access to services

Passport is based on GA4GH Genomics and Health standard, discussed at FIM4R meeting in Montreal

The NIH login service supports a variety of different kinds or credentials (including login.gov). Each credential mechanism has a corresponding widget/tile
Each NIH service can decide which credential services to use and display those tile

Concern around abandonment of federated login

Concern was expressed that most people will stick with login.gov to access NIH and that this is an abandonment of federated login
Tom: eRA will promote federated logins, researchers will prefer to use their campus credentials
ChrisW: International institutions will need to get IAP from their institutions
Rachana: the advantages of the institutional credential must be emphasized

Communications to the Community

eRA is more concerned with MFA
But assurance will be more important to other services like RAS
How to communicate this effectively
Split out MFA as its own thread , independent of identity assurance?
Promote use of REFEDs MFA profile
But also promote identity assurance overall
US Federal info systems (like at NIH) still need to meet FISMA Moderate
- Must use FICAM approved credential, though FICAM does not exist anymore
- That was in NIST SP800-53 rev 4 requirement IA-8
- NIST version 5 backs off on that
- Focuses on AAL2 and open profiles that can be reviewed
Short term there is a need to adapt to change in demands of Federal Info Systems
We need to bring this up with the community and provide a roadmap

REFEDS MFA

Campuses should adopt REFEDs MFA quickly
So campuses can sign into eRA using their campus credential
Does current REFEDs MFA profile need any adjustments?
- Implementers need guidance on what if my Duo is broken for 5 minutes, etc.
- Fail Open Close is an issue
- Native case, how to signal individual MFA event
- Forced MFA event
- What’s appropriate can be can be interpreted differently
- Implementation will shine light on gaps and ambiguities in the profiles
- That will clarify what needs to be updated in the profile in the future
- CTAB should raise these issues and have the discussion w NIH
- We can come to a reasonable agreement by the time this must be implemented
- Same with any other standard or profile, there are things needing clarification
For the Assured Access working group charter, there was suggestion not to include MFA
The Assured Access working group should focus on assurance
REFEDs Assurance Working Group is working on MFA
ChrisW: concern about separating out MFA from the Assured Access working group scope
Some controls in NIST spec require both assurance and MFA, and possible NIH recommendation to combine
For the September 15 eRA deadline, assurance is most important

Looking ahead to BEv2 activities in the next 6 months…

There is a template email for outreach to community members that are not in compliance with BEv2
An API is being used
Data will be used for dashboard
We do not have SSL scoring yet
CTAB received email asking if the requirement for SSL security applies only to endpoints in metadata or if they have others, if it should apply to those as well
We can only check for those endpoints in the metadata

STOPPED HERE, DISCUSS MORE AT FUTURE CALLS:

How do we incentivize adoption of research collaboration enabling/required specs?

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Teeing up for future call: Baseline Expectations 3 data points

NIH work as a barometer for BE3?
REFEDS Baseline - where do we go with this? REFEDS Baseline Expectations Consultation

2021-Jan-26 CTAB Public Minutes