Starting this month: MFA for Microsoft 365 required for students, faculty and staff  

January 19, 2022

As announced by the Provost and VP Operations and Finance in late 2021, McMaster will be requiring Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on Microsoft 365 services for all students, faculty and staff, beginning late January 2022.  

What is MFA? 

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is a method used to secure McMaster email and associated Microsoft applications. MFA assists in protecting accounts from being compromised, and it also minimizes access to your data in the event your account does becomes compromised. It is free, easy-to-use and available to all students, faculty and staff.  

MFA works by requiring ‘something else,’ other than your password, to prove you are you when your account is used to log in to McMaster systems. More information on how to use MFA is available here. 

Please note, for now, MFA will apply only to McMaster’s Microsoft services (e.g. Email). Future MFA rollouts will follow. 

When will MFA for Microsoft 365 become mandatory for the McMaster community? 

All McMaster students, faculty and staff are required to implement MFA on their Microsoft services/applications by April 2022.  

A rolling implementation for universal adoption will begin in late January 2022, with information and support to be shared in advance and throughout the winter semester. 

Start using MFA today! 

There’s no need to wait! You can start today and do not need to wait until your scheduled activation date. McMaster students, faculty and staff can sign up for and use MFA right now. Click  here to get started.