Username format?

[mrlucifer]

hello people, quick question. I was wondering what was your favorite username format to use as a network administrator at a business. We are going through major transistions in our internal network and I am looking for a new way to identify users through the network and company. I really don't want to use first and last names because we are constantly having to change usernames due to name changes. I was thinking about this format:

Birthday 01/02/2005 SS#123-56-7890

username:027890



What do you think?

[foxyloxley]

I wouldn't use anything like the SS number in something like this ...........
just me being paranoid ............ BUT.

couldn't you generate numbers based on their names / DOB / payroll # - WHEN THEY JOINED ?

what's wrong with having to change a few names once in a while ?
Just call EVERYONE [L]user, with password as the password.

problem solved

NEXT

[mrlucifer]

what i am trying to do is create a universal I.D. that I could implement for this organization. I would like to create a ldap structure with smartcard access. I have different opinions for the last 4 characters of the SS number. I see no problem with that. We have multiple systems here at this facility that requires so many characters to a username. Usually at eight, but we have one system that uses six characters. So that is why I created the ID above. The chances are low for someone to have the same user id.

[morganlefay]

Here in Canada.......I would NEVER tell anyone...or for that matter ...let anyone USE my SIN..(SS in US terms)

You may be in privacy rights violation...

I group by department...and go from there

MLF

[valhallen]

WEBABASSETT82

3 letter department code, initials, last name, year of birth

whats wrong with something like that? not using any info that is not normally available and very very very little chance of having username conflicts

[XTC46]

just give them an employee number. simple. first 3 digits can identify the department, last 4 for the employee.

[cabby80]

What about something with firstname and then some part of date of birth, people don't generally change their firstnames?

Maybe you could use first few characters of first name and then a portion of their DOB or employee number if there is one available.

e.g

Name John Doe
Employee # 51432678
DOB 01/01/1976

could be

joh678 or
jo0101

[XTC46]

its a stupid idea to use things like DOB, SSN, etc in usernames. those are private unique identifiers and are often used for authorization purposes. Most companies ask for the last 4 digits of your ssn or your birthdate to verify you.

[catch]

we are constantly having to change usernames due to name changes.

Am I the only one who finds this strange?

People at your work change their names that frequently? Originally I thought you might have intended to mean that the people operating specific roles change... but your continued use of a unique and personalized unique identifier indicate otherwise.

Do not use their SSN, you are ONLY allowed to use this for their tax information and they can refuse its use in part or whole for anything else, especially as an identifier (hence the military uses Serial Numbers).

XTC is spot on for your situation... almost. He is spot on for what you've asked... unfortunately what you've asked is bad.

How will email accounts be handled? Do these users have two distinct authentication systems they need to go through? If so, won't that one also have to go through name changes "constantly"? If so, does it make sense for users to remember two different sets of authentication information? or well you use the first auth scheme to store the second? (ick) If the user only has one auth scheme... do they give out their email as 4516025@dumbcompany.tld ? God, how degrading... "Yeah my company didn't even bother to learn my name."

How degrading every time you login. "Sometimes I feel like I'm not even a person, here locked away in my cube with no natural light for 8 hours a day. Oh a memo... *muttering* My new username is 4516025?? Tomorrow I bring the uzi instead of my normal PB&J."

Just make the username change process overly punctilious and be done with it.

cheers,

catch

[IKnowNot]

Do not use their SSN, you are ONLY allowed to use this for their tax information ...

For years and years I thought I was one of the few on earth who knew this ( my brother, an accountant, had provided a hard copy of the Federal rules governing this. It was one of his pet peeves. )

It wasn't until the banks and other institutions ( insurance carriers, etc. ) got spanked by the Feds when identity theft got huge media attention that things changed. ( some used the SS number as account numbers. )


Although I believe there are some exceptions I believe catch is correct. I would discuss your plan with a knowledgeable tax attorney as well as local council before attempting something like this.

(hence the military uses Serial Numbers)

They do? Did they get spanked too? In my day they used the SS number. ( I was in over 30 years ago. ) Any idea when that changed?