Contact Information in Metadata
The principal use of contact information in metadata is to enable effective communication between Federation participants, especially when systems fail, when users encounter problems, or when a security incident occurs.
A secondary function is to support user interfaces (UIs) but much of the contact information displayed by an identity provider or service provider (for example on error, discovery, login, or consent pages) is self-owned and therefore known by the presenting site. A notable exception is an identity provider contact suitable for brokering attribute release changes when users encounter failures accessing services because the Requested Attributes are not released to SPs.
CCC Contacts Registered with InCommon
Below are the four contacts required in Federation metadata and the CCC Contacts that align to them:
| Type | Description | Registered CCC Contact | Corresponding Person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical | technical issues such as troubleshooting software, systems, or networking issues | ||
| Administrative | non-technical issues such as attribute release policy, on-boarding issues, privacy, assurance certification and assurance qualifiers, etc. | sso_admincontact@ccctechcenter.org | Adrian Teo, Chief Technology Officer, ateo@ccctechcenter.org |
| Security | security matters, especially for the purposes of Federated Security Incident Response | sso_securitycontact@ccctechcenter.org | Aamir Khan, Information Security Officer, akhan@ccctechcenter.org |
| Support | end-user technical support but may also handle questions from users regarding attribute release policy, user privacy, access issues relating to assurance, etc. | sso_supportcontact@ccctechcenter.org | David Albrecht, Senior Systems Engineer, dalbrecht@ccctechcenter.org |
User Scenarios
Here are a number of hypothetical user scenarios that rely on contact information:
- A user authenticates successfully at the IdP and is subsequently redirected to the SP. The SP software, seeing that the SAML assertion does not contain the desired attributes, links to the IdP's
errorURLlocation, if available. In addition to displaying a message to the user, the SP software sends a back-channel message to an institutional administrative contact at the IdP, describing in detail the event that just occurred. The message includes a pointer to the SP's Requested Attributes in metadata.
- A user encounters and reports a technical failure while accessing a service. The SP's support staff determine that the user's IdP is misconfigured (e.g., its clock is off), and informs the technical contact at the IdP.
- A user encounters and reports a technical failure while accessing a service. The SP's support staff determine that the user's environment is at fault, and assists the user in informing the support contact at the IdP.
- A user's assurance status is downgraded due to password compromise. They reset their password, but can't get to their grant submission site. The SP's support staff determine that the users assurance level is too low and assists the person in informing the support contact of the IdP.
Reliable contact information in metadata will enable workflows and scenarios such as those described above.
Technical Details
Here is an example of an appropriate set of <md:ContactPerson> elements in metadata:
<md:ContactPerson contactType="technical" xmlns:md="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata"> <md:GivenName>Technical Support Team</md:GivenName></md:ContactPerson><md:ContactPerson contactType="administrative" xmlns:md="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata"> <md:GivenName>Office of Administrative Support</md:GivenName></md:ContactPerson><md:ContactPerson contactType="support" xmlns:md="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata"> <md:GivenName>Help Desk</md:GivenName></md:ContactPerson> <!-- there are two types of security contacts in metadata but both serve the same purpose --> <!-- security contact with (legacy) InCommon syntax --><md:ContactPerson contactType="other" xmlns:md="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata" <md:GivenName>IT Security Office</md:GivenName></md:ContactPerson><!-- security contact with REFEDS syntax --><md:ContactPerson contactType="other" xmlns:md="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata" <md:GivenName>IT Security Office</md:GivenName></md:ContactPerson> |