UF implements two-factor authentication to combat cybercrime

UF students will soon have to undergo extra steps to access school accounts.

Starting at the end of Spring semester, UF staff, students and faculty must enroll in two-factor authentication to protect their Gatorlink accounts from cybercrime, according to an email sent to students Jan. 21.

Two-factor authentication prevents users who might know a student’s Gatorlink username and password from getting into the account without access to their smartphone as well, according to the email.

The two-step authentication process will use the application Duo, which allows students to choose between three methods of validating each login attempt. Students who enroll can receive a passcode, a phone call or an authentication request through the app. 

UF spokesman Steve Orlando said two-factor authentication is becoming more common as cyber threats increase. A study from the University of Maryland found that hackers attack computers every 39 seconds on average. 

“There’s increasing risk out there on this on almost a daily basis from people who are trying to compromise people’s accounts everywhere,” Orlando said. 

Cybercriminals will send links to students with job scams and fake messages from the UF Computing Help Desk in a common method called phishing, according to the email. Phishing scams allow cybercriminals to obtain student credentials and UF data. 

Julia McKay, a 19-year-old UF computer science sophomore, said she receives one or two phishing emails a week that ask her to put in her Gatorlink credentials. 

“Two-factor authentication is a really important step that a lot of people need to be adopting,” she said. “People are getting smarter and smarter every day with finding new ways to attack.”

Contact Allessandra Inzinna at ainzinna@alligator.org.  

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