In the USAC Schools and Libraries News Brief issued on Friday (excerpted below), USAC announced that beginning in late July, EPC and BEAR users will use a new multifactor authentication login process (or MFA) that complies with federal and FCC information security guidelines.

Once up and running, users will be required to log in to something called One Portal - which is USAC's MFA security system - in order to access EPC and BEARs.

Many of you are likely familiar with this sort of process, where you provide an email or a cell phone number to receive a verification code each time you log in.

Please read the information contained in the News Brief below, and as suggested, begin by adding [log in to unmask] to your safe senders list.

Many more details will become available in the weeks ahead. For now, I can tell you the following:

If you have an EPC account: your One Portal login email will be your EPC login email and logging in will gain you access to EPC and to the BEAR filing system if you have a BEAR PIN
If you only have access to BEARs and not to EPC: your One Portal login email will be your BEAR login email
For the foreseeable future, after logging into One Portal, you will still need to provide your BEAR login credentials in order to access the BEAR system, but a second login is not needed for EPC. Once you are logged into One Portal, you will be logged into EPC.
After initial account set up, you can choose to receive verification codes via text message to a cell phone number or at the email address you prefer (this can be a different email address than your One Portal login address)
You will need a new one-time verification code each time you log in

_________________________________________________

Anne Perloff

Maine State E-Rate Coordinator for Schools

Networkmaine, University of Maine System US:IT

Web: erate.networkmaine.net

Email: [log in to unmask]

Phone: 207-581-3584

Mail:

Networkmaine

5752 Neville Hall, Room 255

Orono, ME 04469-5752

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Schools and Libraries (E-rate) Program <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, Jun 26, 2020 at 4:43 PM
Subject: USAC's Schools and Libraries News Brief for this Week
To:

MFA for EPC and BEAR Form Filers Coming in July 2020

USAC will be adding multifactor authentication (MFA) to increase the security of Universal Service Fund (USF) IT applications. MFA is a method of authenticating a computer user during the login process by requiring the user to enter two or more separate pieces of information, such as a password known to the user and a code we generate and send to the user to enter in order to gain access.

MFA helps safeguard access to data and applications, and provides additional security by requiring a second form of user authentication. This complies with both federal and FCC information security guidelines.

For users of EPC and BEAR Form filers, your login process will change. Starting in late July 2020, you must first log in to One Portal (our MFA security system) to access EPC and/or the BEAR Form. We will provide additional information in advance of the One Portal deployment with instructions on how to log in and set up your second verification factor.

General information

We are creating One Portal accounts for EPC users under their EPC username, and for BEAR Form filers who are not EPC users under their BEAR Form email address. All users will log in to One Portal by clicking the blue Sign In button at the top of the main page of the USAC website.

After you log in to One Portal, you will see a dashboard with links to the application(s) you can access (your "entitlements"). For example, if your username in EPC is also the email address you use to file BEAR Forms, you will see links to EPC and the BEAR Form after you log in.

Note for all BEAR Form filers

For the near term, you will still be required to log in to the BEAR Form with the Billed Entity Number (BEN), Personal Identification Number (PIN), email address, and last name. In the future, the One Portal login process will replace the use of a PIN.

How to prepare for MFA

Add [log in to unmask] to your safe senders list. After we create your One Portal account, we will send you an email from [log in to unmask] with instructions on how to log in for the first time.
If you have identified a primary email address in EPC that is different from the email address you use to log in to EPC, we will send email messages to your primary email. However, we will still use your EPC login email address as your One Portal username.

Your first verification factor will be your One Portal password, which you will set up when you access your account for the first time. You will need a password that includes at least eight characters, with at least one lower-case letter, one upper-case letter, one number, and one special character.

Decide how you would like to receive your second verification factor (code). We will send you a new code each time you log in to One Portal. The first time you log in, we will send the code to your primary email address. After you complete the login process for the first time, you will be able to set your preferred option for receiving the code: the email address you used for your EPC username or BEAR Form login, a second email address, or your cell phone number.

We will provide additional information in upcoming SL News Briefs on the transition to One Portal.