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SUI Quarterly

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June 2020 – Volume 24 Issue 2

June 2020 – Volume 24 Issue 2

Passwords play an important and vital part in data security.  Using a strong password ensures personal and sensitive information stays protected.  Also, using multi-factor authentication whenever possible helps prevent a breach of data security if passwords are discovered by the wrong person.  For those who may not know, multi-factor authentication is a method where a user claims identity and is granted access by providing more than one piece of evidence (or factor), such as providing something they know (like a password) and something the user is sent (like a one-time passcode or security token).

Within the School Accounting System, a password policy can be defined to guarantee users are utilizing complex passwords for logging into the School Accounting System and Web Link (if applicable).  Also, the option to prompt to change passwords every so many days can be set.  A supervisor can establish the password policy for user passwords by accessing the System File from under the Maintenance menu on the main School Accounting System screen and then clicking the Password Policy tab.  Within the password policy, passwords can be defined to be a minimum length, and require uppercase and lowercase letters, special characters, and/or numbers.

Multi-factor authentication is available for use with Web Link in order to make sure only the actual user logs into Web Link.  The multi-factor authentication can be turned on by a supervisor or database administrator by accessing the Web Link Setup Options under the Utilities menu on the main School Accounting System screen and then completing the Multi-Factor Authentication Passcode for Login field.  With Web Link, the options for multi-factor authentication include:

  • Require Every Time:  to have a passcode emailed to the users each time they are logging in.
  • Require for New Devices:  to have a passcode emailed only when a user logs into Web Link from a new device (which is a device that has not been marked to be remembered by the user or has not been used to access Web Link by the user in the past 60 days).

For more information on setting up multi-factor authentication for Web Link and seeing how it works, view the Multi-Factor Authentication Tutorial (included in an article below).