Faculty and Staff,
As an industry best practice and in an effort to strengthen the cybersecurity posture of all UAH-owned computer systems, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) is deploying an endpoint protection solution as well as Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for email access. After careful consideration, the CrowdStrike Endpoint Protection solution was selected to be implemented on all UAH-owned information systems, including servers, desktops, and laptops. Additionally, OIT will be enabling Google’s 2-Step Verification Process for UAH email access.
Google’s 2-Step Verification (Action Required)
Email messages sent utilizing Google Mail (Gmail) could contain confidential and proprietary information. As such, an MFA solution must be utilized to enhance the current security of the system and to provide an additional safeguard to all of our users. All users with a UAH email account (excluding students) will be required to enable Google’s 2-step verification for access to UAH email.
Users who have not enabled 2-step verification by October 15 will lose access to their email account. To avoid any interruption in access, please enable 2-step verification as soon as possible. Instructions on how to set up Google’s 2-Step verification process can be found at FAQs: Google 2FA Launch.
If you have any questions or experience any issues, please contact the UAH OIT helpdesk at helpdesk@uah.edu or 256-824-3333.
CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity solution designed to mitigate cybersecurity threats and incidents. The tool enhances the security capabilities of the Cybersecurity team, protects systems against malware, and enables measurement and understanding of real-time security threats, conditions, and events. CrowdStrike is an integral component to the OIT Chief Information Security Officers, as well as the University of Alabama System’s endpoint security vision for all System universities, including UAH.
Deployment of this tool will be largely automatic and should require no action from you. Should a problem arise during installation, a member of the OIT team will contact you to assist in the installation. This tool will be deployed to UAH systems no later than October 15.
Please see UAH CrowdStrike FAQ for more information.
