Mandatory Two-Step for O365 Email

Announcement Date
Wednesday, November 4, 2020 - 9:30

Mandatory Two-Step for O365 Email

In an effort to provide enhanced security for email and guard against phishing attacks, the University is rolling out a mandatory Two-Step authentication service for Office 365 accounts. Enrollment in this process will require individuals to use Two-Step authentication for access to your Penn Email, regardless of platform or device.

Two-Step verification for PennO365 uses the same process that is already required for PennKey access to various websites and services. Users will log into email with a username and password as usual followed by a prompt to use push notifications or generate codes from an App such as DUO, or request a text or voice code to enter and verify your identity. Once authenticated, you will not be prompted to complete Two-Step Verification on the device for the next 30 days.

 

Setup Notes

  • You must be enrolled with Two-Step on your PennKey account. If you have not enrolled or are having issues enrolling, please visit our Two-Step for PennKey page.
  • You will need to know your PennO365 email password for this to work properly. If you need to reset your O365 Email password, please visit the ISC PennO365 Password Reset Portal.
  • Detailed information about O365 including recommended Email and calendaring clients are available here: https://www.isc.upenn.edu/how-to/penno365-two-step-verification

Note: Weitzman ITS supports only O365 clients.

While “Modern Authentication” using Two-Step for PennO365 may work with the latest versions of Apple Mail, the native iOS mail app, and some Android clients, users of non-Microsoft email and calendaring clients are more likely to experience configuration and support issues.

Key dates when different user groups within the Weitzman School will be required to use Two-Step for O365:

  • Weitzman Staff - Week of 11/9 
  • Faculty and Students - Week of 11/20

If you're running into issues successfully authorizing Two-Step for your O365 account and/or Penn Email account, please contact us via ithelp@design.upenn.edu, or our online contact form. If you're looking for more notes and FAQ tips on Two-Step and O365, you can find more detailed information here on the Penn IT page.

 

Note on routing through Gmail

While not officially supported by the University, some individuals may have configured personal Gmail accounts to send email as their PENNKEY@design.upenn.edu address in the past. The Gmail send-as process relied on an older, less-secure method of authentication and does not support Modern Authentication. Therefore, sending Penn email through Gmail is no longer possible. 

To send email as your PENNKEY@design.upenn.edu address, log in through the Webmail Portal or install and configure Outlook 365 for Windows/macOS (available from the webmail portal) or Android / iOS.