Account recovery (ACR)

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Account Recovery (ACR)

    Account recovery (ACR) allows administrators to manage recovery activities for ServiceNow instances, particularly addressing issues related to single sign-on (SSO) misconfigurations and expired certificates. Enabling ACR disables local interactive logins when SSO is active.

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    Key Features

    • Bypass SSO login to resolve SSO configuration issues.
    • Log in via SSO using an administrator account designated for account recovery.
    • Utilize self-service capabilities for account recovery needs.
    • Enhance security by reducing unauthorized access outside of SSO scenarios.

    Key Outcomes

    For both fresh and upgraded instances, administrators need to activate the Multi-SSO plugin and enable ACR. It's essential to enroll as an ACR user and set local login passwords along with MFA registration. ACR configurations require at least one admin account registered as an account recovery user, which is crucial before enabling SSO. Once ACR and SSO are configured, all local logins are restricted, ensuring a secure environment.

    Administrators can configure account recovery (ACR) to perform recovery activities such as addressing SSO misconfiguration or expired certificates.

    Note:
    Enabling ACR disables the local interactive log-ins (username or password based) when SSO is enabled to your instances.

    ACR provides the following capabilities:

    • Bypass your single sign-on (SSO) login to address issues with SSO configuration as an administrator.
    • Log in with using SSO to perform tasks with an administrator account configured as an account recovery.
    • ACR flows enable the administrators to use self-service capabilities to address account recovery when there’s a need for recovery, for example, SSO miss-configuration, expired certificates.
    • Reduce unauthorized access to the instance and provide a strong foundation to use ACR outside SSO use cases.

    Fresh Instance

    For a fresh instance to use ACR, you must do the following:

    • Activate Mutli-SSO plugin (com.snc.integration.sso.multi.installer)
    • Enable ACR (glide.sso.acr.enabled) - This is enabled by default in case of a fresh instance.
    • Before enabling SSO property (glide.authenticate.multisso.enabled), the administrator must enroll as an ACR user.
      Note:
      Setting this property to false will not disable multi-provider SSO if Account Recovery (ACR) is also enabled on the instance. To log in with a username and password ACR must also be disabled using the glide.sso.acr.enabled property. For details on this property see Account recovery properties.
    • Administrator must set a password for local login and register MFA before enrolling as an ACR user.

    Upgraded Instance

    For an upgraded instance to use ACR, you must do the following:

    • Activate Mutli-SSO plugin (com.snc.integration.sso.multi.installer)
    • Enable ACR (glide.sso.acr.enabled)
      Note:
      In case of upgraded instance, the administrator must enable ACR.
    • Before enabling SSO property (glide.authenticate.multisso.enabled), the administrator must enroll as an ACR user.
    • Administrator must set a password for local login and register MFA before enrolling as an ACR user.

    Configure account recovery users

    To use account recovery, you must register at least one admin account as an account recovery user. Single sign-on can’t be activated on your instance until there is at least one account configured. For details on this process, see Configure an account recovery user from the Account Recovery Properties page.
    Note:
    If you’re upgrading an instance already using single sign-on to Rome or a later release, single-sign on will continue to function without a recovery user configured.

    Account recovery configuration

    The account recovery feature is included with the Integration - Multiple Provider Single Sign-On Installer (com.snc.integration.sso.multi.installer) plugins. The feature is enabled by default. You can change this and other account recovery settings using system properties. For details on these properties, see Account recovery properties.

    Account recovery policy context

    After you’ve registered an account recovery user and enabled single sign-on (SSO), your instance restricts all local logins. This restriction is defined in the SSO - ACR Context auth policy context. For more information about the context, see Account recovery context.

    For details on how authentication policies and policy contexts, and how they work on your instance, see Adaptive authentication.