Do You Need A Password Reset Email Address?

UMBC’s Division of Information Technology (DoIT) asks that all students set-up a password reset email address for their accounts. This email address ensures that your profile is secure, and it makes the password reset process more efficient. This email should be different from your UMBC email address. But why is that important? If we believe your UMBC account is compromised, we will randomize the password on your account (we call it ‘scrambling’). Afterward, we will send you a link with instructions for resetting your password. We cannot send this link to your UMBC email, since you will not have access to it after the password change. Instead, we will send it to your password reset account.  Otherwise, to regain access to your email, you would have to contact TSC and provide proof of identity.

There are various reasons why DoIT would send you information about your UMBC account to your password reset email.  Sometimes Google will suspend your account on their own if they believe it may have been compromised.  Similarly, if DoIT staff see signs of a potential compromise (such as logins from several countries in one day), we will scramble your password.   In these scenarios, you will not have access to your UMBC account. We will send information on how to get your UMBC account back to your password reset address.

Since a password reset address is necessary to recover your UMBC email, it is also important to maintain that account and to remember its password. The account allows DoIT to communicate with you even if you can’t get to your UMBC email, and you can also use it to reset the UMBC password yourself . 

If you do not have a password reset email address, follow the instructions here to set one up: https://itsecurity.umbc.edu/critical/?id=94776

If you have any questions or concerns email us: security@umbc.edu

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Receive any suspicious emails?

Forward it to security@umbc.edu along with the email headers. Instructions for displaying the headers (you normally don't see them) so can be found at the UMBC support wiki: https://wiki.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1867970.

Follow us on myUMBC:https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/itsecurity