This September, the University of Oregon's virtual private network will become more secure through an updated login sequence that includes Duo two-step login.

On Tuesday, Sept. 19, between 6 and 7 a.m., Information Services will make two simultaneous changes to UO VPN.

• Duo verification will become required for access to UO VPN, as it is for Canvas, Zoom, UOmail, Microsoft 365 and many other UO services.
• The UO VPN login screen will change to a Microsoft-branded window that opens in a browser, like what people see when logging in at office.uoregon.edu. As with all such Microsoft logins, people must enter their full UO email address and password. (Entering a Duck ID instead will cause the login to fail.)

As a precursor to those changes, Information Services will do a related hardware upgrade on Thursday, Sept. 7, from 5 to 7 a.m. Anyone connected to UO VPN at that time will be disconnected. People can reconnect after that maintenance is complete.

"UO VPN will be the latest major university service to make use of two-step login," said José Domínguez, chief information security officer. "This is an important step in securing the UO's information technology systems."

UO VPN allows students, staff and faculty members to securely connect to the UO campus network from off campus. The VPN is necessary for remote access to certain resources, including departmental file shares, applications such as Banner and DuckDocs, and some UO library resources.

The upcoming VPN changes follow a recent upgrade to Cisco Secure Client, the software formerly known as AnyConnect, which people use to connect to UO VPN.

Anyone with questions can submit a ticket through the UO VPN support page in the UO Service Portal, contact the IT staff who support their unit or contact the Technology Service Desk.