As part of an ongoing commitment to secure personal data, multi-factor authentication will be activated on approximately 9,400 new and transfer students' UARK accounts on Sept. 22. IT Services has already activated multi-factor authentication on over 23,400 student accounts since the start of spring semester. Since 2020, multi-factor has been enabled for more than 10,600 accounts for faculty, staff and student workers.

Multi-factor authentication provides an additional layer of security that makes it difficult for unauthorized users to access an individual's data, services and applications. Access to UARK accounts is verified by combining something you know (username and password) with something you have (a trusted device, like a phone).

"Verifying accounts with multi-factor is more secure, especially for services that grant access to financial aid, payroll and other personal information," Stephen Tycer, chief information security officer, said. "When implemented correctly, multi-factor authentication can be the single most effective tool to protect against cybersecurity attacks."

With multi-factor enabled, students will need to keep their smartphone charged and with them when accessing online services for coursework, tests, etc. Once verified, they will be able to stay logged in and access UARK services. If you need to update your phone number, go to account.uark.edu and log in with your @uark.edu information. 

When logging into a service like UARK email or Blackboard, students can choose how to authenticate:

• Enable a pop-up notification to tap, or
• Enter a six-digit code provided by an authenticator app, text or phone message.

Multi-factor authentication is required for most online services, including Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Teams, etc.), Adobe, UAConnect, Blackboard Learn, Box and more. View a complete list of applications.

"Multi-factor authentication is a core component of a strong identity and access management policy," Tycer said. "Multi-factor can stop many common attacks and phishing attempts. All it takes is a hacker to compromise a single email account in your organization, and the entire organization can be compromised. By enabling multi-factor, email accounts and services such as Office 365 are much more secure and difficult to hack."

Learn more about multi-factor authentication.