Password Reset Email Pattern

1. Generate string with the following data members:  UserId, UserName, ExpirationDateTime
2. Encrypt the string using a FIPS compliant algorithm (e.g. SHA512).
3. Store encrypted string in the database, user table.
4. Email encrypted string to the user requesting password reset.
5. Upon clicking the encrypted string, a secure URL request will be sent to the server.
1. The encrypted string will be decrypted and verified against the database value (UserId, UserName, ExpirationDateTime not yet passed).
2. Optional:  After the user successfully resets their password, the encrypted string is purged from the database.

Thank you and goodnight.

-Best Practices Team