IT Project: Password Manager
Status
September 30, 2025: Northwestern IT has completed training and onboarding sessions for school and department administrators in preparation for the October 9 service rollout. Online training and open office hours are planned for faculty and staff in October.
Background
Northwestern, like other universities, is a prime target for cyberattacks due to the vast amount of sensitive data it handles, including personal information, academic records, and research materials.
Implementing a password manager is essential for use at Northwestern due to the complex digital environment that students, faculty, and staff navigate daily, and the need to access multiple platforms—such as learning management systems, email, research databases, and administrative portals—often with their own login credentials.
Northwestern IT, in collaboration with key University stakeholders, has chosen 1Password as the University’s password manager service. 1Password helps mitigate cybersecurity risks by offering features such as encrypted storage, automatic password generation, and alerts for compromised credentials. Using 1Password, users can securely store and organize their login credentials, reducing the risk of forgotten passwords and the temptation to reuse weak credentials across systems.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The primary objective of this project is to strengthen security and improve efficiency across the University by:
- Implementing an enterprise password management solution to provide the University community with a secure, user-friendly platform for managing access credentials
- Enhancing governance
- Complying with security best practices
- Creating a streamlined onboarding process and a distributed management model
Approach
The project will be implemented in a phased approach during the summer and early fall quarters.
Design and Configuration: Tenant structure and technical specifications are designed. Tenant setup, including integrations, policies, roles, groups, and vault configurations, is in progress. 1Password Service Model is under development, including support processes, knowledge base structure, and usage standards.
Pilot: Early adopters from IT groups on campus participate in a one-month pilot and are surveyed. Training materials are created and adjusted based on the results of the survey responses.
Implementation: The rollout of 1Password will be in a phased approach. Tenant Administrators will be trained in September. Faculty and staff will be offered a 1Password Business account in October. Students will be offered a 1Password Families account for individual use, at no cost, for their duration as students.
Project Timeline
| Description | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Design and Configuration | May- October 2025 | In Progress |
| Pilot | July - August 2025 | Complete |
| Implementation: Administrator Training | September 2025 | Complete |
| Implementation: Faculty and Staff Training | October 2025 | Planning |
Project Team
| Name | Title | Department | Project Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon Grill | Senior Director of Technology Planning and Security, Information Security Office | Northwestern IT | Executive Sponsor |
| Myndi Brown | Associate Director of Identity and Access Management, Information Security Office | Northwestern IT | Project Sponsor |
| Perla Ledesma | Program Manager Lead, Identity and Access Management, Information Security Office | Northwestern IT | Project Manager |
| Chad Beckman | AD Lead Engineer, Identity and Access Management, Information Security Office | Northwestern IT | Technical Lead |
| Phil Tracy | Lead Engineer, Identity and Access Management, Information Security Office | Northwestern IT | IAM Engineer |
| Abdullah Irfan | IAM AD Engineer, Identity and Access Management, Information Security Office | Northwestern IT | IAM Engineer |
| Christine Ganjani | Communications Specialist | Northwestern IT | Project Communications Support |