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Duo 2-Step Security
2-Step Security means a system requires two separate forms of identity verification for access, making it virtually impossible for anyone to compromise your account without having both pieces of the puzzle.
2-Step Security secures your account against threats such as compromises caused by malware and phishing attacks. Even malicious actors who obtain your password will not be able to access your account.
2-Step Security works by combining your two steps:
- Password: In our case, this is your PPS Username and Password combination.
- Proof: This is the 2nd step. It will take one of two forms: the DUO mobile application on your smartphone OR a hardware token.
When both steps have been entered, you are granted access to the system.
Duo Two-Step account security is now REQUIRED for all PPS staff and contractors.
For a quick preview of how Duo works, check out the video from Duo Security below.
Duo FAQs
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What are the benefits of using Duo Two Step Authentication?
Duo provides secure access to PPS computing services such as PPS Gmail, Google Apps, PeopleSoft, Seesaw and Canvas, protecting your password against potential attacks.
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Am I required to sign up for Duo?
All staff and contractors are required to sign up for Duo in order to access PPS systems
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Are students required to use Duo?
No - students will have a separate method to sign in to and secure their PPS account and get access to the new My.PPS portal.
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What devices are supported by Duo?
Devices supported by Duo include the following:
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Will I get locked out if I forget my phone or token?
If you have enrolled in Duo with either a phone or hardware token and forget to bring the device to work or your phone has no battery life you may contact the Support Desk to request a one-time system bypass code to grant access to your account - call 503-916-3375
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Will I get locked out if the Duo system is slow or unavailable?
Duo Mobile from Cisco has maintained uptime of greater than 99.99% for more than 4 years. In the event that we experience an outage OTIS administrators will be immediately notified by Cisco.
More details on Duo’s service, and how their cloud architecture and product development processes are designed to ensure high availability, are available in this
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Do I need to pay to download the Duo Mobile App?
No, the app is free. You can download the app from your mobile device’s app store (Apple App store, Google Play store).
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Why does the Duo Mobile app need access to my device’s camera?
The app needs access to your camera to scan the QR code during the initial activation. After the enrollment is complete, you may disable the camera access completely using your phone's Settings.
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What data does the Duo Mobile app collect?
Duo describes in a “Knowledge Base” article the information that the app collects:. The article explains that “Duo only collects information required to provide and improve the service and provided by the device by default. Device information that counts as Performance Data gets de-identified and used for analytical purposes.” Please read the Duo article linked above for more details.
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Do I need to enable notifications for the Duo Mobile app?
Duo Mobile does ask your permission to send notifications to your mobile device. We recommend that you enable this feature, as that will allow the app to send a “push notification” to your phone's screen - just like a text message. Duo will send such a notification only when Duo is being invoked as part of a logon to PPS. You can manage notifications in your device Settings.
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How much Wi-Fi or cellular data does the Duo Mobile app use?
Very little. One authentication uses 2 KB. To put this into perspective, 500 authentications will use 1 MB of data. Which is well less than the average 3 MB it takes to download just one web page on your device’s browser.
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How can I troubleshoot Duo Push notification issues?
For Apple iOS users
Duo provides information on how you can troubleshoot the Duo Mobile App if you are experiencing issues. For Apple iOS users only, there is an option to troubleshoot within the Duo Mobile App itself. For instructions, please click.
For Google Android users
Duo provides information on how you can troubleshoot the Duo Mobile App if you are experiencing issues. For instructions please click.
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What do I do if I get a notification from Duo that I did not request?
Use the “Deny” option if you did not initiate the request. PPS OTIS staff will investigate all fraudulent attempts to access PPS network accounts.
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What about my privacy with the Duo mobile app?
PPS aims to be 100% transparent regarding what information is captured and visible to OTIS Security Staff when the DUO Mobile Application is installed on a staff member's personal mobile phone.
The sole purpose of installing the DUO Mobile application is to provide a second method of authentication for PPS Technology systems.
This application DOES collect other information, purely for the purpose of providing assurance that the mobile device is also secure.Installing Duo on your phone also allows OTIS to see the following information.
- Phone OS version and Patch version
- Does the Phone have file system level encryption enabled?
- Does the phone have bio-metric or pin code controls in place to restrict access to the phones misuse?
- Has the phone been rooted or jail-broken?
This information may be used by OTIS in the event of a cyber-security incident to assist in validating whether the phone was a reliable and trustworthy second method of authentication.
The Duo Mobile Application cannot see your user data like your contacts, it cannot read your text messages, it cannot read your browsing history, it cannot access your photos (but it can use your camera to scan a QR code if you explicitly allow that permission), it cannot access your files, it cannot erase your device, it cannot see information about other applications on your device.
Duo Mobile cannot track your location. In general, the only personal data that Duo Mobile knows about you are the service accounts that you explicitly add to Duo Mobile. However, DUO does not track any personal data about these accounts--only the name of the service.
Installing the DUO Mobile application DOES NOT allow PPS OTIS staff to manage your mobile device in any shape or form.
Installing the Duo Mobile application DOES give PPS OTIS visibility to the phone number of the mobile phone.
OTIS will not share this with any third parties or your PPS manager. This number is purely used as a unique identifier for the device, which staff use for 2-step security.For all PPS staff the DUO Mobile Application provides the best user experience for 2-step authentication and while other options exist, this is the method primarily recommended by OTIS.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact the OTIS team at support@pps.net.
Details regarding the Android specific permissions can be found here:
Details regarding the IOS (iPhone) specific permissions can be found here: -
I don’t want to use a personal phone for Duo - what are my options?
If you don't have a compatible mobile phone, or don't want to use your personal device, you can use a Duo token for 2-step authentication.
The Duo token can be used to generate a one-time passcode (OTP) which you will need to enter into the login screen when prompted.
Please note that OTIS has a limited supply of tokens and you will need to contact the IT Support Desk if you lose or misplace a token.
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What if I have additional questions about Duo?
Please refer to the Duo vendor guides here -