IT Supports for Staff

MFA stands for multi-factor authentication.  It means a minimum of one form of protection on all accounts in TUS.  The first form is a password.  The second form we use in TUS is the Microsoft Authenticator app on a smart phone.

You will need to get one or use one owned by someone you trust, (however using a phone owned by someone else is extremely inconvenient).

Every staff member and student is required to set it up on when they first login to their account.  You need both a smartphone (with the Microsoft Authenticator app) AND a laptop or a computer to set up MFA, you can do it on smart phone alone as you have to scan a QR code displayed on a laptop or computer with your smartphone.

If your phone is the only phone that is registered with your account, you can’t access your account without raising a Helpdesk ticket to have your MFA reset.  Once the Helpdesk has confirmed that your MFA has been reset, you will need access to another smart phone with the authenticator app and you will need to register this phone with your account to regain access to your account.

Any change to MFA settings (e.g. adding a second phone) requires MFA authentication to access the Add a new Phone page.  So, if you have the phone that is registered to your account, you can add the new one, and then you can delete the old one – see the How-To screencast (i.e. a video) on how to do this – link below.

Yes, but you should only add a phone if it is owned by someone you fully trust and you should turn off Authenticator notifications to this back-up phone to avoid them being a nuisance to the owner.

https://aka.ms/mfasetup is the direct link.  See instructional video for how to do this.

Video explaining How to register a phone for MFA (for initial setup or if your MFA has been reset by the Helpdesk)

Video explaining How to add a phone for MFA  (if you already have a phone that is registered to your account)