Employee accounts will start requiring login verification on Tuesday, July 26

What’s Happening?

Starting Tuesday, July 26, all employee accounts will require secondary verification when logging in to Microsoft applications. That means when you log in you will be asked to answer a text, phone call, or a prompt in an app to verify that it is you logging in. We call this Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Most people will be familiar with this by now since many banks and other organizations now require verification when logging in. We already use it here for some employees.

Why are we doing this?

Scammers and other malicious organizations are intensifying their efforts to break into computers and networks, often by stealing usernames and passwords. Once this happens they can send malicious emails, lock network files, or take over whole systems. When a second prompt is required to log in, bad actors can’t make use of a login name and password because they can’t answer the second prompt. The federal government and the Chief Information Officer for the state of Washington have urged all colleges to quickly increase their security by implementing MFA given geopolitical and other threats, so we are proceeding as are other colleges.

How will this work?

The first time you log into a Microsoft application using your Shoreline network account starting Tuesday, July 26, you will be asked to set up the way you would like to do your secondary authentication. This could be with a text or a phone call, but we recommend using the Microsoft Authenticator app for most people since it will be the easiest to use. For complete details see this helpdesk article: What is Multifactor Authentication (MFA) for employee email and Microsoft products? – Shoreline Support

Note: some employees are already using MFA, so if you already do this you can expect to see no change.

What if I have trouble?

As always, if you need technology assistance you can get help by looking up a help desk article or submitting a support ticket at Shoreline Support.

Thanks,

Gavin Smith
Acting Director
Technology Support Services

Shoreline Community College
www.shoreline.edu  |  206.546.4792 
4000 Building Room 4124
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