Despite many layers of security and protection, DePaul University and its students, faculty, and staff are not immune to malicious hacking attempts. These attempts happen every day. As with all major institutions, DePaul is constantly dealing with malicious actors. These hackers try (and unfortunately sometimes succeed) to get personal and financial information, tuition checks, paychecks, and identities.
There’s a solution that stops almost all malicious hacking attempts. It’s called multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA utilizes multiple authentication methods in addition to a password (such as Authenticator apps, text and phone call verifications). Based on Microsoft’s own studies, “your account is more than 99.9% less likely to be compromised if you use MFA.” See this blog post.
Fraud attempts are happening every day. Unfortunately, malicious actors are stealing identities, personal details, and financial information all of the time. BlueKey MFA stops most of these attacks. It’s the easiest and most effective action you can take to protect yourself in DePaul’s digital environment. Please register today. Information Services and the Security team will continue to expand BlueKey MFA to more and more DePaul services, systems, and applications in the coming months.
DePaul is moving to a more secure technology environment through the increased use of the Microsoft Authenticator app and BlueKey multi-factor authentication (MFA) for many university systems, platforms, and applications. Most DePaul employees and some students are already registered for BlueKey MFA. If you are a current student or employee and haven't already downloaded the Microsoft Authenticator app and set up MFA, please make sure to register from a laptop or desktop computer at bluekey.depaul.edu/multifactorsetup. You will need your BlueKey login credentials (username@depaul.edu email address and password) in order to register.
It will depend on the system that you are accessing. The short answer is that more and more software, platforms, and systems that you use at DePaul will require additional authentication through the Microsoft Authenticator app. Although BlueKey multi-factor authentication does allow additional sign-in methods to verify your identity, it's highly recommended to use the Microsoft Authenticator app.
BlueKey MFA requires you to select a "Default sign-in method". This is your first choice for authentication. It is highly recommended that all DePaul students, faculty, and staff select "Microsoft Authenticator -notification" as their default. If your mobile phone is handy, this is the easiest and most effective default sign-in method.
If you haven’t already, it is highly encouraged that you add as many secure verification methods as possible to your BlueKey account. This makes it easier to login to these systems if you can’t access your phone. Add other secure smart devices you own with the Authenticator app, and trusted phone numbers. Visit bluekey.depaul.edu/myaccount and click “Security Info” to add sign-in methods.
Note: Email can only be used as a second verification factor when you are resetting your password. An email can not be used as a second factor to log into a system.
Thank you for helping make DePaul more secure. If you need any assistance or have any questions, please reach out to the Help Desk at helpdesk.depaul.edu, helpdesk@depaul.edu, or 312-362-8765.