Southern updates online login system

Written by: Lia Colon

Since Spring Break, Southern Adventist University students and faculty have experienced a change when logging into their Southern accounts, as the institution’s multi-factor authentication requirement for logins was recently updated. 

Southern’s authentication system changed over the break, according to Derek Sherbondy, associate director of Information Technology.

Multi-factor authentication is still required to log into MyAccess, the university’s online portal, but only on a new device or if the “remember me” option is not selected. According to Sherbondy, the device will remember the user for up to 90 days.

Chloe Smith, sophomore public relations major, expressed relief at the reduced authentication burden.

“I am so happy that I don’t always have to do the authentication anymore,” Smith said. “It would take so much time to get into eClass, especially if I want to go into residential life.” 

Many other students and faculty are feeling the same way. Karina Savelio, office manager in the School of Journalism and Communication, said, “I don’t always have my phone on me, so it saves me time.”

In an email to the Accent, Sherbondy stated that the change was due to the “old authentication method being deprecated, so we need to move to this new one.” 

He explained that the outdated authentication method is being phased out, prompting the transition to a new authentication method to maintain security and functionality.

“It improves our online security by giving us more [multi-factor authentication] options,” Sherbondy said. “This transition was undertaken to enhance the security and efficiency of our authentication systems, and I’m glad to report that it has been executed smoothly.”

Clarification: The original version of this article was altered slightly to accurately reflect that Southern’s multi-factor authentication requirement for logins was updated, not replaced.