Ithaca College

As part of the continuing effort to ensure the security and integrity of the College’s information systems, the College will be implementing enhanced security measures that will directly impact how you connect to your email and other Office 365 applications. As was highlighted in the Intercom ‘Information Security Update’ published on April, 30th, these industry best practice enhancements are widely accepted across higher education institutions and include: 

USE OF MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION (MFA)
Helps verify that the person logging into your account is actually you, by utilizing a second verification step.  MFA implementation is scheduled for:

• Any faculty, staff, or students can self-enroll for MFA starting July 10th (details to follow)
• All staff will be required to use MFA by August 14th – specific implementation dates will be coordinated per department between July 19th and August 14th.
• All faculty and students will be required to be using MFA by Thanksgiving – specific implementations will be scheduled for October and November.

EMAIL CLIENT CHANGES
Not all email applications fully support MFA and those that do not will no longer be able to connect to the Ithaca College email system.  The use of a compatible email client, such as Microsoft Outlook will be required as of:

• July 17th – All Staff
• October 18th (first day of fall break) – All Faculty and Students

Additional information regarding MFA and the email clients are noted below.  Details about how to sign up for and configure MFA will be made available shortly.  We thank you for your cooperation and understanding as we take this prudent step to increase the security of the College’s information technology systems.  If anyone has any questions, please contact the IT Service Desk at (607) 274-1000. 

What is Multi-Factor Authentication?
Many of you are already familiar with MFA from using it to access your online banking and other services. Similar to requiring both an ATM card and PIN to withdraw cash, MFA requires something you know (your password) with something you have (commonly your phone) to provide far stronger verification that the person logging into your account is actually you.

How does MFA Impact You?
IC has chosen Duo Security’s MFA product, which is already being used by hundreds of other colleges and universities.  Logging into your email or other Office 365 applications will require your Netpass username and password, as usual; however, a second quick step will be added. The three main choices for the second step (Duo authentication) are:

• Approving a prompt from the Duo Mobile app on your smart phone (preferred by most)
• Entering a code provided by the Duo Mobile app to complete the login
• Having Duo call your mobile or landline phone, and confirming that it’s you who is logging in

When you log into Office 365, you’ll have the option to set Duo to only prompt you every 14 days on that device.

Email Client (Application) Compatibility:
Not all email clients support MFA for Office 365, and those that do not will no longer be able to connect to the Ithaca College email system. For example, Thunderbird, the Gmail app for Android, and Apple’s Macintosh desktop Mail program, along with some others, will no longer work.

The Microsoft Outlook email client and the office.com web portal remain fully functional and supported by use on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android devices. Some other mail clients, including Apple’s Mail app for iOS 11 or later, are compatible and should continue to work. 

Information Technology Service Desk
servicedesk@ithaca.edu
104 Job Hall
(607) 274-1000