Multifactor Authentication (MFA) for Microsoft Office 365 services (e.g., Outlook, Teams, OneDrive) will be taken into use at the entire university during 2021.
MFA will be introduced at the Faculty of Science from Tuesday, 9 November 2021 onward. The original deployment date had to be postponed due to Microsoft’s service disruption.
Multifactor Authentication means additional authentication when logging in to cloud services, either by mobile application or by phone. MFA will help us secure university user accounts better than before and maintain information security.
Please note! Multifactor Authentication is only required every 90 days or when logging in with new devices, so authentication does not unnecessarily burden your logging in to the university’s Office services. In addition to Office 365 services, Multifactor Authentication will be introduced later in other applicable university services.
Multifactor Authentication will only come into your use on the date of introduction, 9 November 2021, but you can make the process easier by specifying your additional authentication methods well in advance as follows:
- Specify your Multifactor Authentication methods according to the IT Helpdesk instructions. Please specify your authentication methods before the actual implementation deadline, as the university IT Helpdesk may be busy on the MFA introduction date. In the event of problems your access to the university O365 services may be slowed down.
- We recommend adding at least two additional authentication methods. Please note! Recommended authentication methods are the Microsoft Authenticator application as the primary authentication method and automatic phone call authentication as an additional method. Download the Microsoft Authenticator application to your phone from your app store.
- If you do not use Outlook (Outlook Web App or the Outlook for Desktop application), Multifactor Authentication may require changes to your e-mail application settings. Read the more detailed instructions on how to change your e-mail application settings.
- E-mail and calendar synchronisation may stop working without any notifications in some applications. Make sure synchronization works after implementation and, if necessary, refer to the instructions for applications.
- The MFA frequently asked questions page provides answers to most questions. If you encounter issues, please contact the IT Helpdesk:
- Chat (weekdays 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., chatbot 24/7): helsinki.fi/helpdesk
- By phone (weekdays 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.): +358 (0)29 415 5555 (mobile charge/local network rate)