Employees with PS Access Required to Use 2 Factor Login

UPDATE: To get past the start of Fall 2019, faculty with PS access will be required to upgrade to Duo by 9/30/19.

As part of ongoing efforts to keep the campus safe online, the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) has partnered with Duo Security for 2-factor authentication (2FA), which DoIT staff have used for several years. Given UMBC employees’ obligation to protect sensitive, personally identifiable information, all UMBC staff members with access to Peoplesoft (PS) will be required to use Duo by the end of the year 2018. All faculty members with Peoplesoft access will be required to do so by Fall 2019. This will apply to any online UMBC service requiring a login, except for current, “self-service” functions such as timesheets, etravel requests, etc.

Duo 2-factor authentication (2FA) greatly increases the security of your account by adding an extra layer of protection to the login procedure. With Duo 2FA, your account will require you to have a second-factor device physically unique to you, such as a smartphone, your office phone, or even a tablet in your possession to log in. When you log in, your second-factor device will prompt you to approve your online login. Without approval from your second-factor device, any fraudulent attempts to log into your account are denied, thus preventing anyone who shouldn't have access to your account from getting to your data.

However, you don't need to have PS access or even wait until the various deadlines to get started! In fact, DoIT strongly encourages all faculty and staff to enable Duo 2FA now. Required employees who choose not to enable Duo 2FA by the deadlines above will be automatically enrolled on those dates. DoIT will also provide a “count-down” weekly reminder 90 days before the relevant deadline.

Note: DoIT presented this planned rollout at the March 27 IT Steering Committee, March 29 at TechFest, at the Faculty Senate Computer Policy Committee (CPC) on April 25, and will do so at Professional Staff Senate (PSS) meeting before the end of the term as well.

Click here to learn how to activate Duo today.

Additional information about Duo two-factor authentication is available in the FAQs.

If you have further questions, please contact the Technology Support Center by either submitting a support request at my.umbc.edu/help or calling (410) 455-3838.