Multi-Factor Authentication Coming for all Students - August 23rd 2021

As you have seen in the news, Information Security threats are increasing in volume and sophistication, and are a serious problem for every organization – including Purchase College.

To address this problem, over the last two years Purchase College has been rolling out Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) – beginning with administrators and staff. MFA combines something you know (your User.Name and Password) with a second factor - something you have – your Smart Phone or a DUO Token.

Per Best Practices and SUNY guidance, we are now adding Cisco Duo Multi-Factor-Authentication for all students. All College employees are already covered by Duo MFA. Starting August 23rd all students will be enrolled in our Cisco DUO MFA system.

When you sign in to your account do the Daily Health Screening, read your Email, or to access MyHeliotrope, Moodle or other applications, you will be prompted for both factors:1) your ID/Pw, and 2) an acknowledgement on your phone or token.

The use of MFA significantly improves the security of your account, and has reduced the number of accounts compromised due to Phishing. Many people are already familiar (or should be) with the use of MFA on their banking, financial, and social media accounts.

On the day your account is enrolled, you will receive the following notification:

From: no-reply@duosecurity.com
Date: August 23rd, 2021
Subject: Duo Security Enrollment

Hello, Purchase College is now rolling out Duo Security, a secure way for you to log into our applications. You are invited to set up your account for Duo so you can start logging in. To begin, click this link to enroll a phone, tablet, or other device: <sample enrollment-link here>.

Duo Security is a two-factor authentication service that strives to be easy to use and secure.

To learn more about Duo authentication, visit the DUO Enrollment guide.

We strongly recommend that you complete the DUO enrollment process on your Android or Apple smartphone. If you do not own a smartphone, contact CTS and request a DUO Hardware token that can go onto your keyring. There is no fee for your first DUO Hardware token.

Once your account is enrolled, you will need to have your smartphone or token within reach when you access Purchase College services. Since we are all glued to our smartphones these days, the phone makes the most sense and is the easiest to use.