Multi-factor Authentication Reminder

Oct. 15, 2021

Over the past few months, UA has seen a significant increase in the number of attempts to access university information by stealing usernames and passwords and gaining access to employee accounts. As a result, the University has been rolling out a security enhancement called Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to better protect user accounts and sensitive UA information from malicious cyber-attacks.

UA has been steadily deploying MFA. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) is facilitating this transition. At the conclusion of this transition, the goal is that all employees are enrolled in MFA as a best practice.

October 20th is the target date for your account to be enrolled in MFA, using a tool called Duo. Enabling Duo MFA on your account is one very important way to protect you and the university from these attacks.

We invite you to enroll in MFA using the information provided below. There will be roughly two weeks to self-enroll at your convenience, and then a cut-over date that will auto-enroll the remaining users to the MFA security protections. 

Ready to enroll? 

Login to ELMO  and then click on “Security Settings” and choose the “Multi-Factor Authentication” option.

Need assistance? 

Call 450-8300 or email helpdesk@alaska.edu and they'll be happy to help.

FAQs

Have questions or want to learn more about MFA? 

Please visit  OIT’s MFA page. 

What is Multi-Factor Authentication?

MFA is a form of security that protects an account with two layers of authentication. The first layer is a password, something that you know. The second factor is something that you physically have, such as a device. For example, a bank account uses MFA for security by requiring both a PIN and a debit card.

How does it work?

After you enroll in MFA, when you log in to any MFA-protected website or service, you will enter your username and password (something you know) as you do today, and then use your smartphone or another device (something you have) to verify your identity.

Why do I need MFA?

MFA prevents others from signing in as you, even if they know your password. It protects you and the University of Alaska from the risks of phishing scams and other forms of password theft.

Users’ passwords have been compromised by many different methods: guessing, hacking, watching you type the password, capturing the password on a computer with malware installed that records keystrokes, capturing passwords sent over a compromised network connection, capturing cached passwords on servers receiving passwords. Even the most careful user cannot be certain their password is never compromised by one or more of these attacks.

When will it be available?

MFA is available now!  The university’s MFA provider is a company named Duo Security (Duo for short).