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Phased MFA implementation underway
Jan 30th, 2020
graphic of locks illustrating the concept of security

The first phase of the rollout of multi-factor authentication (MFA) starts today.

Faculty and staff members who set up their secondary authentication method prior to Jan. 14 will be the first group to have MFA enabled. To confirm implementation of MFA on their UWin Accounts, these 349 early MFA adopters received a notification email from Information Technology Services yesterday.

Other faculty, staff, and student UWin Account holders will be scheduled to have MFA enabled on their accounts during the next several weeks and will be notified by IT Services prior to implementation.

IT Services strongly recommends setting up your authentication options before MFA is enabled on your account. If you have not done so, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to myprofile.microsoft.com in a web browser and sign in with your UWinID@uwindsor.ca and UWin Account password.
  2. In the Security info box, click the UPDATE INFO link.
  3. Click the + Add method button to add an authentication method. Authentication methods include Phone – text or call and Microsoft Authenticator App – verification code or notification.

To learn more about MFA, visit www.uwindsor.ca/itservices/multifactor. You can also ask a question or open a UWin Account ticket.

—Ericka Greenham

Rollout of multi-factor authentication set to start Thursday
Jan 29th, 2020
telephone handset and smartphone

The phased rollout of multi-factor authentication (MFA) at UWindsor begins Thursday, Jan. 30. “Early adopter” faculty and staff members will be the first to receive this new security protocol.

“While you can set up your MFA options after the security feature is enabled on your UWin Account, it is more difficult,” says Marcin Pulcer, assistant director of client services in Information Technology Services. “We strongly encourage anyone who has not already set up their MFA options to take a few minutes and do so as phased implementation will be occurring for all UWin Account holders over the next several weeks.”

To set up your MFA options:

  1. Navigate to myprofile.microsoft.com in a web browser and sign in with your UWinID@uwindsor.ca and UWin Account password.
  2. In the Security info box, click the UPDATE INFO link.
  3. Click the + Add method button to add an authentication method.
    • Authentication methods include: phone – text or call — and Microsoft Authenticator App, verification code or notification.
    • While there are different authentication options, one of them will be designated as the default method. This method can be changed at any time.
    • You can return to the Security info screen at any time to change or delete an authentication method.

IT Services strongly recommends that UWin Account holders set up multiple authentication options for redundancy.

For more detailed information about authentication setup, see this knowledge base article.

Note that once MFA is fully rolled out at UWindsor, setting up authentication options will be mandatory, as access to UWindsor’s networks from off-campus locations will be denied without one. To learn more about MFA, visit www.uwindsor.ca/itservices/multifactor. You can also ask a question or open a UWin Account ticket.

—Ericka Greenham

Rollout of multi-factor authentication set to start Thursday
Jan 29th, 2020
telephone handset and smartphone

The phased rollout of multi-factor authentication (MFA) at UWindsor begins Thursday, Jan. 30. “Early adopter” faculty and staff members will be the first to receive this new security protocol.

“While you can set up your MFA options after the security feature is enabled on your UWin Account, it is more difficult,” says Marcin Pulcer, assistant director of client services in Information Technology Services. “We strongly encourage anyone who has not already set up their MFA options to take a few minutes and do so as phased implementation will be occurring for all UWin Account holders over the next several weeks.”

To set up your MFA options:

  1. Navigate to myprofile.microsoft.com in a web browser and sign in with your UWinID@uwindsor.ca and UWin Account password.
  2. In the Security info box, click the UPDATE INFO link.
  3. Click the + Add method button to add an authentication method.
    • Authentication methods include: phone – text or call — and Microsoft Authenticator App, verification code or notification.
    • While there are different authentication options, one of them will be designated as the default method. This method can be changed at any time.
    • You can return to the Security info screen at any time to change or delete an authentication method.

IT Services strongly recommends that UWin Account holders set up multiple authentication options for redundancy.

For more detailed information about authentication setup, see this knowledge base article.

Note that once MFA is fully rolled out at UWindsor, setting up authentication options will be mandatory, as access to UWindsor’s networks from off-campus locations will be denied without one. To learn more about MFA, visit www.uwindsor.ca/itservices/multifactor. You can also ask a question or open a UWin Account ticket.

—Ericka Greenham

Registration proceeding for multi-factor authentication
Jan 27th, 2020
browswer screen depicting authentication

More than 670 UWindsor faculty and staff members have set up their multi-factor authentication (MFA) options so they can continue accessing Blackboard, Office 365, UWinsite Finance, and UWinsite Student when travelling or working from home starting Jan. 30.

“We’re very pleased with MFA registration so far,” says Marcin Pulcer, assistant director for client services in Information Technology Services. “We’d like to give an extra nod of recognition to our 352 colleagues from across campus who set up their authentication options before we started talking about the need to do so.”

If you have not had a chance to set up your authentication options, please do so before the rollout of MFA begins on Jan. 30. Here are the steps:

  1. Navigate to myprofile.microsoft.com in a web browser and sign in with your UWinID@uwindsor.ca and UWin Account password.
  1. In the Security info box, click the UPDATE INFO link.
  1. Click the + Add method button to add an authentication method. Authentication methods include Phone – text or call and Microsoft Authenticator App – verification code or notification.

“Setting up your authentication options before MFA is enabled on your account is easier,” says Pulcer. “IT Services strongly recommends you do so.”

To learn more about MFA, visit www.uwindsor.ca/itservices/multifactor. You can also ask a question or open a UWin Account ticket.

Separating fact from fiction on Multi-Factor Authentication
Jan 23rd, 2020
telephone handset and mobile phone

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) will be rolled out at UWindsor starting Jan. 30.

MFA combines two or more independent credentials or “factors” — what you know (e.g. your password) with something you have (e.g. your phone) — to create a second layer of security for your UWin account.

Fiction: MFA will be in effect all the time.

If you are on campus using a campus network — working in your office, teaching in a classroom, or conducting research in a lab — you will not be asked for a secondary authentication token. MFA comes into effect only when you are working or travelling off campus and trying to access Blackboard, Office 365, UWinsite Finance, or UWinsite Student.

Fiction: I need a smartphone to use MFA.

You can receive a verification code to a landline phone. You may use your home phone if you wish to use a landline with the caveat that you will not have access to it while travelling.

Fiction: MFA makes it more difficult to access systems.

With the implementation of MFA for faculty, staff, and students, the University will decrease the requirement for changing your password from 120 days to 365 days. You will also get prompted for a secondary token only once every 30 days per device.

Fact: Registering for MFA is easier if I do it before MFA is enabled on my account.

After MFA is enabled on your account, the first time you try to access Blackboard, Office 365, UWinsite Finance, or UWinsite Student from off-campus, you will be asked to set up your MFA options. This set-up process is trickier to navigate and more frustrating because it interrupts the task you want to complete.

Instead, IT Services strongly recommends you set up your MFA options before the rollout of MFA begins following these steps:

  1. Navigate to myprofile.microsoft.com in a web browser and sign in with your UWinID@uwindsor.ca and UWin Account password.
  2. In the Security info box, click the UPDATE INFO link.
  3. Click the + Add method button to add an authentication method. Authentication methods include Phone — text or call and Microsoft Authenticator App — verification code or notification.

To learn more about MFA, visit www.uwindsor.ca/itservices/multifactor. You can also ask a question or open a UWin Account ticket.

—Ericka Greenham