New Security Rollout

Date
10/30/18

Given the ongoing and escalating attacks targeting university credentials, increased amounts of sensitive and high-risk information being stored on University information systems, and more stringent compliance and regulatory requirements around data protection and breach notification, the University needs to evolve from its current credential practices to one that incorporates the use of two factor authentication (2FA). During the 2018 calendar year, Technology Services will be adding 2FA to the core authentication services under its management (services using Shibboleth, Office 365, and Outlook Web App in Exchange Online) and will be working with campus IT to expand 2FA to unit supported applications.

2FA will allow for the better protection of information store on university systems and reduce abuse of university computing resources. It will also enable the University to maintain compliance with multiple legal and regulatory requirements. Not only does 2FA provide more agility to adapt and respond to cyberattacks, it may also reduce and minimize potential security breaches and the cost associated with breach response, litigation, fines, reduction in grant funding opportunities, and reputational damage.