Upcoming changes to UIC login process

Dear students, faculty and staff,

Technology Solutions is pleased to announce that next month, we will be updating our authentication service as part of our efforts to modernize security and improve the technology experience at UIC. The Shibboleth single sign-on system used to access most university web resources will be updated to utilize the UIC Microsoft login process.

What is Shibboleth/SSO?

Single sign-on is an authentication method that allows users to log in with a single ID and password to any of several related, yet independent, software systems. Shibboleth, UIC’s SSO solution, has been connected with a legacy authentication system called Bluestem, recognizable as the UIC login page.

When is it happening?

Technology Solutions will be making this change Monday, Nov. 21, at 7 a.m.

How does this impact me?

Beginning Nov. 21, most university resources, including Blackboard, Google Workspace, Box and LinkedIn Learning, will present you with the UIC Microsoft login page, recognizable from UIC Microsoft 365 services. You will need to enter your full UIC email address, along with your UIC password, to access the resource.

Note: When using the UIC Microsoft login page, UI Health staff use their UI Health credentials instead of their UIC credentials. With this change, UI Health staff will use their UI Health credentials to access more university resources. Further details will be provided by UI Health administration.

This change reduces the number of different university login pages, helping you ensure that you’re using a legitimate login page.

Additionally, this change reduces how often you are prompted for Duo 2-Factor Authentication. For example, with this new unified login process, if you are prompted to authenticate with Duo 2FA when accessing Microsoft 365 at office.uic.edu, and then you access Box at uofi.box.com, you will not be prompted to authenticate with Duo 2FA a second time.

Some older browsers will not support the new login process, so please review which browsers are compatible with the UIC Microsoft login page to avoid login issues.

What is not changing?

Some university resources, primarily within individual colleges/units, are using the Bluestem authentication system directly. Those resources will continue using the UIC login page for the time being, but will be transitioned to use the new login process over the coming year.

This change will not impact which university resources require Duo 2FA.

University of Illinois System resources using the Enterprise login page are also not impacted by this change.

Where can I get support?

To ask a question or request support, visit the IT Service Desk webpage.

Sincerely,

Jason Maslanka
Chief Technology Officer
Interim Chief Information Security Officer

Radhika Reddy
Director, Software Development & Delivery
Technology Solutions

Dean Dang
Director, Enterprise Applications & Services
Technology Solutions

For more information, please contact:
Jason Maslanka
jasonm@uic.edu