Account Ownership Verification

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5. Account Ownership Verification

On this page

• Overview
• Self Service 2FA Removal
• Disable 2FA with Support Intervention
  • Workflow
    • Evaluating challenge answers
    • User Successfully Proves Account Ownership
    • User Fails to Prove Account Ownership
  • GitLab Team Members
  • Large Customers
    • Setup (by Account Manager)
    • Usage
    • Slack owner contact
    • Non-Slack owner contact
• Authentication For GLGL Reports
• Account Ownership Changes
  • Account Ownership Change Request for Paid Groups

Overview

This workflow focuses on disabling Two-factor Authentication on a GitLab.com account.

It should also be used any time ownership of an account needs to be verified, such as for account changes.

2FA removal and other account actions can only be completed if the workflow below is successful.

Self Service 2FA Removal

In most cases, users can disable 2FA themselves and regain access to their accounts, using one of the following methods:

1. Use a saved two-factor recovery code.
2. Generate new recovery codes via SSH.
   • If a user has an SSH key tied to their account but receives a Permission denied (publickey) error, they may need to manually register their private SSH key using ssh-agent if they're using a non-default SSH key pair file path. Direct the user to our documentation for guidance on how to solve this.

As of August 2020, free users won't be able restore access to accounts if self-service methods do not work for them.

Disable 2FA with Support Intervention

If a user cannot make use of self-serve methods (lost their account recovery codes and has no SSH key registered), proving they own the account can be difficult. Support intervention for 2FA removal after the above steps have been attempted is only possible for users with an existing paid plan when the ticket was created.

If a paid user (part of paid group or paid user namespace) is unable to remove 2FA or otherwise regain access to their account using the above methods and responds with the need for further verification, then the user will need to provide evidence of account ownership before we can disable 2FA on their account.

While Support typically identifies users by their membership in a paid namespace, there are cases where users cannot be added manually by group owners, such as with SSO enforcement enabled. In these cases:

1. Owner vouch is required.
2. Primary email of the account must match the company domain.
3. User must still prove account ownership following the workflow.
   • Include the paid namespace when determining the data classification level.

Workflow

As part of access recovery, if 2FA removal is not involved, then skip the following steps and move on to the next section.

1. If they have not answered the challenges, apply the Support::SaaS::2FA::2FA Challenges macro.
2. The macro marks the ticket as "Pending".

Evaluating challenge answers

Note: In case the user sends back very minimal information and it's clear it's not sufficient or the answers are vague, reply asking for more information immediately after their response. You can provide some additional guidance, such as "please provide the exact date and time of the commit, not just an approximate one".

1. Using the 2FA App in Zendesk, determine the appropriate data classification level and the risk factor you have determined from customer's answers to the challenges.
   • For almost all cases, the originating email should be the same as the one listed on the account.
   • An existing paid plain is required for 2FA resets. However, challenge responses can be accepted from any group or project associated with the user. This includes groups or projects that are not associated with a paid plan.
   • Backup to app: Risk Factor Worksheet (internal only) with the Support::SaaS::2FA::2FA Internal Note macro to put an internal note on the ticket with the table at the bottom of the sheet.
2. Request that your decision be peer-reviewed by another member of the team via Slack #support_gitlab-com if the account verification passed. If the verification failed, a peer review is optional, and you may opt to offer more challenges to the user.
3. For the peer reviewer: In case you disagree, leave an internal note on the ticket stating your thoughts on what the risk factor should be and reply to the Slack conversation for further discussion. If you agree, move to the next section on what to do if successful.

User Successfully Proves Account Ownership

This section will usually be done by the peer reviewer.

1. For situations other than 2FA, please see Account Changes workflow.
2. For disabling 2FA: If you agree with the decision, sign into your admin account and locate the username in the users table or by going to https://gitlab.com/admin/users/usernamegoeshere
   1. Under the account tab, click Edit, add an Admin Note, and save.
   2. On the account tab, click on Disable 2FA.
   3. Use the Support::SaaS::2FA::2FA Removal Verification - Successful macro.

User Fails to Prove Account Ownership

Note: Do not provide hints to answers. That is how social engineering works!

1. If the user is unable to pass the risk factor but we have not provided all the applicable challenges, you may offer further challenges.
   • Most commonly, an Owner in the top level namespace vouch is requested. Use the Support::SaaS::2FA::2FA ask owner vouch macro. The originating email of this request should match a verified email of the Owner's account.
   • For large organizations, please check the ZenDesk organization notes to see if they're using the large customers workflow before offering the owner vouch challenge.
   • When we receive a subsequent response, go back to evaluating the challenges to see if they now pass.
2. If the user is unable to pass the available challenges:
   1. Inform them that without verification we will not be able to take any action on the account. For 2FA, use the Support::SaaS::2FA::2FA Removal Verification - GitLab.com - Failed macro.
   2. Mark the ticket as "Solved".

GitLab Team Members

If the user is a GitLab employee, have them contact IT Ops.

Large Customers

For customers who are large enough to have an account management project, an issue within their specific project can be used as verification.

Setup (by Account Manager)

The (Technical) Account Manager ((T)AM) is responsible for the setup. If a customer requests this workflow, please refer them to their (T)AM.

1. Create an issue template called 2FA Verification.md that contains the following:

   - User to reset (required): `@user`
   - ZD Ticket: `#ticket number`
   /label ~"2FA Reset"
   

2. Create a file called 2FA Reset Owners.md that lists the customer's external Slack channel in the GitLab workspace, and the Slack handle of individuals who are authorized to request a 2FA reset.
   • If a Slack channel is not available, note at the top that no Slack channel exists, and list the GitLab username and email address for each authorized individual.
3. Open a Support Operations issue to add a note to the appropriate ZenDesk Organization's Notes, such as 2FA owner vouch: [link to 2FA Reset Owners file].

Usage

If the ZenDesk organization's notes has a "2FA owner vouch" link, use the following process to ask for an owner vouch:

Slack owner contact

1. Use Slack and ping the individuals listed in the 2FA Reset Owners.md file in the listed Slack channel, alerting them that a request exists, and that they can expedite the processing of the request. You can use the following as a template for this message:

   Hi @user - we got a request from `REQUESTOR_EMAIL` to disable 2FA on their account. Could you vouch for them by creating an issue via https://gitlab.com/path/to/account/project/issues/new?issuable_template=2FA%20Verification and filling in all of the details there?
   
   Once you've done that, link the issue here and I'll get them reset. If you don't get to this, we'll use our standard account verification procedures to determine if they're eligible for a 2FA reset.
   

   • Skip this step if a listed owner has created and sent a link to the issue through ZenDesk prior to Support's request.
2. Notify the user that you are getting an owner to vouch for them if needed (based on ticket SLA).
3. Once a "2FA Reset Owner" gets back to you, include the vouch in your risk factor assessment.
4. Acknowledge the response in the Slack thread.
5. Comment in the account management issue that you've included the owner vouch in the verification process, and close the issue.

Non-Slack owner contact

If the "2FA Reset Owners" file does not list a Slack channel and an issue hasn't already been submitted to Support, then ask the user for an owner vouch using Support::SaaS::2FA::2FA ask large owner vouch.

If an issue has been submitted, then comment in the account management issue that you've included the owner vouch in the verification process, and close the issue.

Authentication For GLGL Reports

In the event that a customer requests a report of their group's users from GLGL, consult the internal-requests wiki for the process of authenticating the requestor.

Account Ownership Changes

There are some conditions under which a change of ownership may be requested by a company with a business relationship with GitLab. Our support page outlines that these processes are not available for unpaid groups.

The end result of a successful request is a new or existing user in the namespace will have the Owner role.

Account Ownership Change Request for Paid Groups

Account Ownership Change Requests are initiated when the sole Owner of a group leaves a company and an authorized representative of the company is seeking to regain access. This process should be a last resort, and self-service options should be pursued first.

If a request is received, verify:

1. Current paid subscription is applied to the namespace.
2. Sole Owner's primary email address matches company domain.
3. Requestor has a GitLab.com account. Typically this user will already be a member but is not Owner.

Ensure that the requestor has exhausted all self-service options:

• If the existing Owner's account does not have 2FA, suggest they issue a password reset and claim the account directly.
• If the existing Owner's account does have 2FA, suggest contacting the previous Owner to provide the one time password, backup codes or private ssh key to regain access.

If no Self-service options are viable, follow the steps below:

1. Use Support::SaaS::Account ownership change verification (Self-service option not possible) macro
2. If possible, add the account owner or account manager in the CC.
3. Once we received the necessary document, double check all the requested information is included. If not, let them know what's missing. If all required elements are present, follow the next step.
4. Create a new issue in the Legal tracker requesting approval to add or upgrade the permissions of the requesting user. Note the issue in an internal comment on the ticket, then reply to the requestor using Legal::General macro and set the ticket to "On-Hold". If you don't receive a reply after the On-Hold ticket reverts to open (4 days), ping in #legal.
5. After receiving approval: add or elevate the requested user to Owner role.