An administrator accidentally triggered a bulk redistribution of all assigned software tokens, which regenerated the seed value for every token. This commonly happens when a distribution job is submitted without specifying token selection criteria, causing all assigned tokens to be selected automatically.

Once the new seed values are issued, the Authentication Manager server expects authentication using the newly generated tokencodes. Since end users still have the old token installed on their devices, all authentication attempts fail until users import the new token data.

 

ℹ️ NOTE: Authentication Manager displays the following warnings before this action completes. If these warnings are dismissed without careful review, the bulk redistribution proceeds:

 

 

This job generates new token seeds for these tokens. Existing users of these tokens will no longer be able to authenticate. Users must import the new token data before they can authenticate.

 

⚠️ CAUTION: There is no rollback option once software tokens have been redistributed. Choose one of the two resolution options below based on your environment.

 

Option A: Distribute New Token Seeds to End Users (Use this option if no recent backup is available or losing recent data is not acceptable.)

Step 1: Export the newly generated token seed files from the Security Console.

Step 2: Distribute the new token seed files to all affected end users.

Step 3: Instruct each user to import the new token data on their device and test authentication.

Step 4 — Verify: Confirm that affected users can successfully authenticate using their updated

software token.

 

Option B: Restore Authentication Manager from Backup (Use this option only if a pre-redistribution backup is available and data loss since that backup is acceptable.)

 

⚠️ CAUTION: Restoring from backup will overwrite the current system and permanently delete all data changes made since the backup was taken. Take a backup of the current system state before proceeding.

 

Step 1: Navigate to Maintenance > Backup and Restore > Backup Now in the Operations Console to take a backup of the current system state.

Step 2: Navigate to Maintenance > Backup and Restore > Restore in the Operations Console.

Step 3: Select the correct pre-redistribution backup file carefully. Confirm this is the backup taken before the token redistribution occurred.

Step 4: Initiate the restore and wait for it to complete.

Step 5 — Verify: Confirm that software token users can successfully authenticate with their original tokens after the restore completes.

 

⚠️ This is a preventative workaround — it does not resolve the issue after it has already occurred. If the bulk redistribution has already taken place, refer to the Resolution section above.

 

What this workaround achieves: Taking a backup immediately before performing any bulk software token distribution ensures that a recovery point exists. If the redistribution causes widespread authentication failure, you can restore the system to its pre-redistribution state using Option B in the Resolution section.

 

What this workaround does NOT fix: It does not prevent the bulk redistribution from occurring. It only ensures a recovery option is available if the issue happens.

 

Step 1: Before performing any bulk software token distribution, navigate to Maintenance > Backup and Restore > Backup Now in the Operations Console.

Step 2: Wait for the backup to complete and confirm it was successful.

Step 3: Proceed with the software token distribution only after the backup has been confirmed.