Multifactor Authentication Is Coming
UMB’s computing environment requires a high level of security to ensure the privacy, integrity, and confidentiality of the data that reside in its systems.
The UMID and Password
During the last 10 years, the UMID and password have developed and served as a common credential to gain access to systems and services at the University. This authentication strategy has greatly improved the computing services user experience. However, with the growth of cyber threats and attacks, and the attempts to convince individuals to reveal their credential, known as phishing, the computing industry recognized the need to develop a technology to address this problem.
Multifactor Authentication (MFA)
An approach was devised to leverage multiple verification methods and to no longer rely only on a single credential. The combined strength of these multiple factors of authentication create a confidence or level of assurance that the person accessing the system is the appropriate individual.
At UMB, we will be transitioning to a MFA approach that allows users to use a mobile device in addition to their UMID and password to achieve a significantly higher level of security and almost entirely negate the risk associated with phishing and similar attacks.
Implementation
The Center for Information Technology Services (CITS) has been preparing the computing environment for the implementation of this new technology since last year. CITS also has been coordinating with each school and department to plan the implementation of MFA across the campus.
The first phase of this roll-out will cover the systems that contain the University’s most sensitive data and the users that can access those data. As each of these systems are integrated with MFA, the impacted users will be contacted individually with relevant timelines and instructions for how to set up and use MFA in their daily computing operations.
For more information on this project, check out the CITS site.