PSI testing nonsense

StraightnLevel

StraightnLevel

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Does anyone have an guidance to navigating the PSI testing login?

In trying to sign up for my IFR written, the system simply will not allow me to log in. I've rest my password multiple times and done everything I can possibly imagine, but it constantly hangs up wanting an "authenticator code". I get nothing from them, however - not at my phone, nor at any of my email accounts. How can I break out of this nonsense?
 
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Response from the interwebz:

“Leaving this for whoever searches this up next; Download your preferred authenticator app and call PSI. They were super friendly and it took less than 2 minutes to set it up.”
 
eman1200 said:
Response from the interwebz:

“Leaving this for whoever searches this up next; Download your preferred authenticator app and call PSI. They were super friendly and it took less than 2 minutes to set it up.”
Click to expand...

It wasn't quite that easy for me, but calling them did resolve it.

I've gotten a new phone since I last took a test, there was no authenticator linked to PSI - it was requesting a code that could not be generated, and there is no way to reset the account and link it to a new authenticator or device. Thus, I was completely locked out.
 
As a contractor, PSI is integrated with the FAA. All PSI is doing is complying with the security requirements from the FAA.
 
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When I first saw this last fall, I was surprised that what I assumed was primarily a corporate world item had creeped into " real life".
It will be asking for a code that doesn't exist if you had made an account prior to the 2FA requirement coming into effect.

Your easy choices are-

Microsoft Authenticator
Google Authenticator

There are others, but those both should work - download one of those or whichever one offends you least, call PSI and get it set up. As others have said, they've got this figured out on their side. (this is really parroting what Eman posted, with some explicit product names to look for)
 
bentmettle said:
whichever one offends you least
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lol...working in IT for years, that is great.
We had folks that refused to put anything on their phones from MS, Google, Cisco, etc...all while having 500 games and silly apps on them.
According to them, we were spies and the authenticator apps were our way in.

We forced either Cisco Duo or MS authenticator at our company, but I've used both MS and Google authenticator personally. I'd feel that MS was a little more secure (yes even I'm chuckling saying that) and it's just based on some reading I read quite a while ago, but if you try to transfer those accounts to a new phone, it may be a challenge. Google transferred well at least twice now. I had to re-setup every single MS account every time....which in a very specific scenario could serve as a bit of a security layer.
Both worked fine, but Google did seem less glitchy and hasn't had delays like MS did at times...waiting for a code...while the CEO is on the phone in a board meeting needing some data from a secure account... wait for it...wait for it...

YMMV
 
Skyrys62 said:
lol...working in IT for years, that is great.
We had folks that refused to put anything on their phones from MS, Google, Cisco, etc...all while having 500 games and silly apps on them.
According to them, we were spies and the authenticator apps were our way in.

We forced either Cisco Duo or MS authenticator at our company,…
Click to expand...

For a lot of us it isn’t about spying, it’s about being in a support role and being told what to put on our personal phones instead of being supplied a work phone. To use for work. Don’t tell me what I have to install on my personal phone, go $&#% urself. Not u, you know, “them”.
 
PSI is a mixed bag and while some of the stuff is mandated by the FAA, PSI bears responsibility for their bad customer support. I had signed up to take some writtens and booked it at the local outlet which was the A&P school at a near by airport. The only problem was that this was the week that the school was closed. The head of the school was actually in the building when I got there, but he had no idea how to run the tests and was surprised that anybody got booked for that week.

I rescheduled for a week later, at the earliest time they were open which is like 8 AM. I get there, and this time the proctor is there to run the tests, but for some reason they can't get the test software up. Only problem is htat PSI is on the west coast and their customer support doesn't open for a while. Fortunately, the school plied with with coffee and donuts for a while until PSI could get online and fix the problem.

On the other hand, when I did my FCC tests with them, the FCC wouldn't accept my completion results for some reason, but the PSI woman was able to transmit the test completions to the FAA herelf and managed to get my certificates issued.
 
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Skyrys62 said:
We had folks that refused to put anything on their phones from MS, Google, Cisco, etc...all while having 500 games and silly apps on them.
According to them, we were spies and the authenticator apps were our way in.
Click to expand...


I have exactly two additional apps on my phone: Kindle and Signal. Mobile data is off, Location is off, Wifi is off. Google Play Services is disabled. I refuse to add another app unless its EULA explicitly states one of the following conditions:
a: No data is collected
b: No collected data will ever be sold or otherwise disseminated.

Considering how few 'apps' have such provisions, most having exactly the opposite, don't get upset at me for considering all mobile phones and mobile phone apps varying levels of invasive spyware.
 
2-Bit Speed said:
I have exactly two additional apps on my phone: Kindle and Signal. Mobile data is off, Location is off, Wifi is off. Google Play Services is disabled. I refuse to add another app unless its EULA explicitly states one of the following conditions:
a: No data is collected
b: No collected data will ever be sold or otherwise disseminated.

Considering how few 'apps' have such provisions, most having exactly the opposite, don't get upset at me for considering all mobile phones and mobile phone apps varying levels of invasive spyware.
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I'm not upset over any of it. I just thought it was funny...especially with the many games, apps, social media, etc., they had on their phones already, with the conspiracy theory thinking that the company was only the one spying on them.
 
There's no conspiracy theory involved. Google and others make a lot, maybe most of their money collecting and selling your information. It doesn't mean they are in the case of using the authenticators for this application, but they do have a vested interest in making the use of their wallets close to universal. It's sad, to me, that governments (state and federal) are helping drive that forward.

Phone based authenticators, IMO, are a bit of a hack. They rely on an Android or Apple device keeping your personal certs secure. I don't know how long that's going to work, but for compromised phones it's probably not even working now. A much better solution is a dedicated hardware solution like a smart card or yubikey, but those are too expensive to give out to everyone.

Better question is why we need psuedo hardware multi-factor auth for taking an FAA test. Password and text or email is plenty strong enough for that. We're not passing around state secrets here...if it's good enough for your citibank account it's good enough for that.
 
What the heck is an authenticator?
 
WDD said:
What the heck is an authenticator?
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LOL….Your honor, I rest my case.



Seriously, it’s an app that you have to load on your phone that generates pseudo-random numbers every 30 seconds that are keyed into a global access control scheme.
 
flyingron said:
Actually, I used to have to carry a hardware version of this when I was working. We used to play RSA poker on coffee breaks.
Click to expand...
When I started at GE back in the dark ages, we all had those fobs. Honestly, I'm not sure why we don't still use them, as it was a perfectly usable system.
 
StraightnLevel said:
When I started at GE back in the dark ages, we all had those fobs. Honestly, I'm not sure why we don't still use them, as it was a perfectly usable system.
Click to expand...
SecureID I guess they were called. They transitioned us to the apps either on the company laptops or the blackberries. I had to point out to the dolts that most of our guys worked inside facilities that didn't allow them to bring either Blackberries or Laptops in. The keychain id generators allowed them to use one of the few "internet connected" computers inside the facility.
 
I forget what site it was recently that wanted me to download a SPECIFIC authenticator app. If I recall, it was the Google one. No, I'm already using an Authenticator app for WAY too many sites that I don't frequent. Don't really care to download an entirely different one just for one site.
I don't know what the future of internet login security looks like, but two-factor authentication is going away fast. Seems Authenticator apps are the present-day solution. I suspect smart-card-style interfaces will be next. Military has been using them for years and seem to work well. Except that every damn site I need to log into for work...from a work computer...that I have to use my ID card to log into requires a ridiculous username and password combination.
 
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