Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a quick and easy way to add an extra layer of security to all University of Delaware accounts and to University, personal and financial information.

Full-time employees who have not yet enrolled in 2FA are urged to sign up at My UD Settings before 2FA becomes mandatory on Feb. 13.

After enabling 2FA, members of the University community log in using a temporary security code in addition to their UDelNet usernames and passwords. Protecting an account with 2FA makes it much less likely that a hacker can access a UD account.

“We encourage students, faculty members and other employees to protect themselves and the information in their care by enrolling in UD 2FA as soon as they can,” said Provost Domenico Grasso.

“Because criminals continue to take advantage of accounts that do not have 2FA enabled, the University is accelerating its plan to require 2FA protection for more accounts and services,” said Alan Brangman, executive vice president and University treasurer.

Jason Cash, interim vice president for Information Technologies, added that “Signing up for 2FA now will save you the inconvenience of having to sign up for 2FA when you might be more pressed for time.”

2FA is already required for several groups of employees and students and for use with several UD applications. “As of Jan. 18, over 12,400 members of the community were using 2FA to protect their accounts and information,” Cash added.

Schedule for enforcing 2FA for UD accounts

More members of the University community will be required to use 2FA during 2017:

• On Feb. 13, all full-time employees, including faculty, will be required to use 2FA to protect their accounts.

• All new students and new full-time employees are currently required to enroll in 2FA as part of their enrollment or on-boarding process.

• Current undergraduate students are being encouraged to enroll in 2FA now. It is expected that all undergraduate students will be protecting their accounts with 2FA by January 2018.

• English Language Institute students will be required to protect their accounts with 2FA beginning on Feb. 14.

• All graduate students have been using 2FA to protect their accounts since Nov. 18, 2016.

• Part-time employees, retirees, alumni and other groups affiliated with the University will be required to protect their accounts with 2FA in the future.

Even if 2FA protection is not yet required for a student’s or employee’s account, they will be required to sign up for 2FA in order to use UD services protected by 2FA.

Schedule for enforcing 2FA for UD apps and services  

• On Feb. 20, payroll and HR forms that require an employee or faculty member to transmit confidential information will require 2FA. The 2FA requirement will apply to many of the forms employees use weekly or monthly.

• On Feb. 6, certain student financial aid forms will require 2FA.

• Currently, virtual private network (VPN) connections from off campus or unsecured Wi-Fi networks require 2FA. On Feb. 6, UDataGlance will require VPN (and, therefore, 2FA) for off-campus or unsecured Wi-Fi access.

“Identity theft has become such a global problem that 2FA or some form of multi-factor authentication is recommended for your non-UD accounts as well,” Cash said.

UD IT recommends that members of the University community use two-step, two-factor, or multi-step authentication to protect their accounts at any financial institution, online shopping site, email provider (e.g., Yahoo! or Google) or other institution that offers this extra level of protection.

More information

For more information about 2FA, go to the UD IT 2FA help pages, contact your departmental or college IT staff, or contact the IT Support Center by submitting a Help Request form, emailing consult@udel.edu or calling 302-831-6000.

Note: The Google Authenticator app for smartphones, iPods, and tablets is the suggested method for generating your 2FA code. Once configured properly, Google Authenticator does NOT require internet access to generate a 2FA code. Because Google Authenticator works without network access, it works well in locations where Wi-Fi or cell phone networks are NOT available. For more information, review the Google Authenticator 2FA help files.