MFA for Viking Portal Access (Support & Updates)

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In an effort to keep our colleagues and students safe online, Multifactor Authentication (MFA) will be placed on faculty and student Viking Portal accounts on the following dates.

  • Faculty: Monday, May 9, 2022
  • Students: August 22, 2022
  • Note that Classified Staff and Managers already have MFA on their accounts.

What is Multifactor Authentication (MFA)?
MFA is an additional yet essential layer of security that helps protect accounts from compromise. Accounts that are protected by MFA are shown to be 99.9% less likely to be compromised. What does this mean? Upon logging into your Viking Portal, or resetting your password, you will be asked for a One Time Passcode (OTP).

How do you get an OTP?
There are options to consider in creating an OTP in order to gain access to your Viking Portal. You can see a full list here: Multifactor Authentication. In short you can create an OTP in a mobile authenticator (recommended), you can have it sent via SMS (this option will go away in the future), or via USB hardware token. These will be come available for faculty who are teaching on campus.

Keep in mind that on your personal devices you can request that your browser saves the OTP for 30 days, so you will not need to do this each time, though this is dependent on your browser settings.

Why are we doing this?
LBCC is implementing MFA for everyone’s protection. We access sensitive and confidential information inside of our Viking Portals. Additionally, government mandates and cyber insurance vendors require that MFA be used whenever possible — especially in conjunction with those systems that process, store, or transmit Personally Identifiable Information (PII) (e.g., email, student management, and financial systems). LBCCD is currently having to negotiate its cybersecurity insurance policy because MFA has not been implemented.

Help Guides, Videos, & Support

Need a little help with this? Reach out to our IITS Faculty & Staff Help Desk.

Phone:  (562) 938-4357 (HELP)
Email: helpdesk@lbcc.edu

FAQs

A few questions have come up that we’d like to address:

  • Does this apply to only faculty on campus? This applies to all faculty accounts (with classes on and off campus).
  • Can I opt out? No. This will apply to all faculty accounts, as well as all staff, managers, and students (in Summer 2022 for students). MFA will be in place to keep everyone safe online.
  • What if I don’t have a smart phone? How do I receive a One Time Passcode (OTP) to get into the Viking Portal? While a smartphone provides you with the most options to receive an OTP, there are other options. Contact the IITS Faculty & Staff Help Desk and we can help identify what may work best for you.