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Two-Factor Authentication

Microsoft is using two-factor authentication to verify your identity for Blackboard and Office 365. This means that after you give your username and password, you must do something else to prove that it’s really, really you. Typically, after you do the usual login stuff, a screen will pop up with a two-digit number that you must key into your cell phone. You need to download an app to your cell phone and key the number in there.

  • Go to your phone’s place for downloading apps and look for Microsoft Authenticator.
    • There are several questions you need to answer when you set up this app, so it will take a few minutes.
  • When you want to get into Blackboard, you will need your phone nearby. You do the usual login routine on your computer, then when that screen shows the two-digit number, grab your phone and open the Authenticator app and key in the two-digit number.
    • That number expires in just a couple of minutes, so if you need to go to the other room for your phone, you will need to ask for a new number.
    • My experience is that the system remembers you for several weeks, then you will need to do it again. You will probably need to do it again if you use a different computer to log in too.
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