Setting session timeout for users


Like most applications, Zendesk implements a session expiration to enhance security. Signing users out after a period of inactivity reduces the risk of unauthorized access. Admins can customize the session expiration time.


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Summary: ◀▼
You can customize session timeout settings to enhance security by signing users out after inactivity. Set different expiration periods for team members and end users, with recommended defaults of 60 minutes for agents and eight hours for end users. Shorter timeouts reduce risks but require more frequent sign-ins. You can also enforce a maximum session duration for team members to limit continuous sign-in time.





Location: Admin Center > Account > Security >
Advanced

Like most applications, Zendesk implements a session expiration to enhance security.
Signing users out after a period of inactivity reduces the risk of unauthorized access.
Admins can customize the session expiration time.
Zendesk recommends setting the shortest duration possible for your organization. Ideally,
use the default settings, 60 minutes for agents and eight hours for end users, or set
shorter sessions, if possible. Shorter session expiration windows reduce the amount of
time for a potential session takeover, but does require users to reauthenticate more
often.
This article includes the following topics:
Understanding Zendesk session time
Customizing the inactivity session time-out period




Understanding Zendesk session time


To help protect your account, Zendesk is
currently rolling out a 12-hour maximum session duration limit for team members. See
the announcement for details.
When users sign in to Zendesk, their session remains valid as long as user activity
occurs, unless the user explicitly signs out of Zendesk. By default, a session
expires after 60 minutes of inactivity for agents and after eight hours of
inactivity for end users.


User activity is when you click something explicitly in the Zendesk user
interface or when the application pulls information automatically in the
background. Information pulls often happen to keep the Zendesk interface up to
date, but pulls don't occur uniformly across all Zendesk pages.

Session expiration countdown starts when you close your browser or quit
the browser tab where the Zendesk session is running. The countdown can also be
triggered when you put your computer to sleep or turn it off. When the session
expiration limit is reached, Zendesk terminates your sign-in session, and you
have to sign in again to use Zendesk.

If Zendesk detects suspicious activity, users may be signed out and redirected to the
sign-in page. After signing in again, they’ll be returned to where they left
off.


Note: The inactivity session time-out settings described in this article don't
affect unified agent statuses.





Customizing the inactivity session time-out period

Admins can customize the session expiration period. If your security requirements
differ for team members and end users, you can set separate expiration periods for
each.
By default, agents are signed out after 60 minutes, and end users are signed out
after eight hours. Zendesk recommends setting the shortest duration possible for
your organization.
To set an inactivity session time-out period

In Admin Center, click
Account in the sidebar, then select Security > Advanced.
Click the Authentication tab.
Select a Team member session expiration period and an End user session
expiration period.

Select Maximum session duration to enforce a maximum session duration for
team members, then select the duration from the drop-down list. This setting
sets the maximum amount of time a team member can remain signed in. For
example, if the duration is set to 8 hours, the team member is signed out
after 8 hours of activity and will need to sign back in to
Zendesk.
When you turn on Maximum session duration, you can't
turn it off, but you can adjust the duration.

Click Save.



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