Last semester, the University of Massachusetts implemented a two-factor authentication process for students logging in to their Moodle, SPIRE and UMass email accounts. In addition to entering their password, once a month students were also required to enter a code sent to their phones via call or text in order to access their accounts.
In response to high demands from the student body requesting that the process be made more complicated, the University announced that beginning next week it will implement a 30-factor authentication process.
“Starting next week, students will have to answer a series of questions each time they need to log in to their Moodle and SPIRE accounts,” read an email from University administrators that was sent to students Thursday morning. “The questions will be different every time and will be a mix of multiple choice and essays so as to make the log-in process as secure, efficient, and logical as possible.”
The announcement prompted an overwhelmingly positive response from the student body.
“I can’t wait for the new 30-factor authentication to take place, the two-step authentication just wasn’t secure enough and was way too convenient for me to use,” said Noone Ever, a senior undeclared major.
According to University spokesperson Mak Ingmylifehell, “The 30-factor authentication system will ask students a variety of questions, including their great-grandmother’s astrological sign, the person to their left’s social security number, the amount of days until their graduation, their five-year plan and the exact distance from UMass to the Sun (in kilometers),” among others.
“We just wanted to introduce yet another completely crucial process that was so obviously lacking from students’ daily lives,” said University IT staff member Ann Oyingfornoreason. “Do you know how often students’ Moodle and SPIRE accounts are hacked into? Never. And this new 30-factor authentication will make sure it stays that way.”
Students are hopeful that the new authentication process will continue to happen at the most inconvenient times possible. “It really keeps me on my toes,” said sophomore psychology major Love Minorinconveniences.
“I especially love how when I need to check my email really quickly, I’m prompted with the authentication. It literally always happens at the worst times and reminds me how grateful I am that the University is so focused on solving the really pressing issues currently affecting the student body, like the underwhelming rate of SPIRE accounts being hacked into.”
Notan Noyedatall can’t be reached because they haven’t completed the authentication process to access their email.
