Multi-factor authentication (Students)
Red River College Polytech is now offering multi-factor authentication (MFA) to provide an extra layer of security for your student account.
With MFA, in addition to your College username and password, a secondary verification is required when you log on to certain services using your college account. If an unauthorized person steals your password, it will be difficult for them to access your account without a verification code or approval.
You will be prompted for verification when you log in to access HUB, student email, Office 365 Applications, Teams, WebEx and OneDrive. RRC highly recommends using a smartphone along with the Microsoft Authenticator application, as this is the easiest method for configuring MFA.
NOTE: You will need to access the same phone/app to use MFA when you login to your accounts and get prompted to approve. If you do not have access to a smartphone, you may also configure MFA using a HyperFIDO2 USB security key, made available through the Campus Store. If you choose this option instead of the smartphone application, please watch the following video for the setup instructions
Download and install the Microsoft Authenticator App
Visit the Apple app store or Google play store on your phone or tablet and install the Microsoft Authenticator app.
Setup MFA using Microsoft Authenticator App
Please follow the instructions below or watch the MFA setup video.
- Type aka.ms/mfasetup into a browser.
- Select Use another account.
- Enter your student email address, and then click Next.
- Enter your College password, and then click Sign in.
- Click Next.
- On the Additional security verification window, select Mobile app in the drop-down menu, select the Receive notifications for verification button, and then click Set up.
- When the Configure mobile app screen appears, proceed to step 8. Do not click next.
- Open the Microsoft Authenticator app that you downloaded onto your device and then follow the instructions for your device type.
For your iOS device:
- On your Microsoft authenticator app, click the + at the top right-hand side of the screen.
- Select Work or school account.
- On the Add account window select Scan QR code, point you phone camera at the QR code to scan the image.
- Click Next on your computer, click Approve on your device, and then proceed to step 8.
For your Android device:
- On the Microsoft authenticator app, click the 3 dots at the top right-hand side of screen.
- Select Work or school account.
- On the Configure mobile app window that opened on your computer, point your phone camera at the QR code to scan the image.
- Click Next on your computer, click Approve on your device, and then proceed to Step 8.
- Once the authentication process is complete, on the Additional security verification window, click Next.
- To set up a backup verification process in case you lose access to the mobile app, enter your mobile phone number, select the country code, and then click Done.
Click Save.
NOTE: Once MFA is setup, you may not need to approve each time you login, but you will get prompted when the security controls we have in place detect that it is required. Please select the approve button using the Microsoft Authenticator app you installed on your phone.
IMPORTANT: RRC highly recommends using the Outlook Web App (OWA), Outlook email client, or the Outlook mobile app to access your RRC email.
Depending on your phone and/or email client, Microsoft MFA may not work with unsupported desktop and third-party email applications and are not recommended. Changes to Microsoft MFA and security policies may affect the ability to use these clients after enrollment.
In some cases, already established mail profiles can’t make the transition to MFA from single factor authentication and users should remove the profile from their mail client on their phone, then re-add it to enable MFA security.
If you have any questions or issues with MFA, please contact the ITS Service Desk website to submit a Service Desk ticket, or call 204-632-2125, or email servicedesk@rrc.ca.