The purpose of this article is to provide guidance to anyone who is planning to travel or is currently traveling and the implications this may have when authenticating to services which leverage LSUS Single Sign-On for authentication, such as Moodle and the LSUS email web portal.

How does LSUS Single Sign-On keep my account protected?

The service LSUS uses for Single Sign-On is called Microsoft Entra (formerly known as Microsoft Azure Active Directory).

This service keeps a record of typical login behaviors of anyone who authenticates via the service to ensure that all logins line up with how, when, and from what device the individual typically logs in from.

If a login comes in and does not line up with how the individual typically logs in, the login could be blocked.

This works much in the same way that a bank tracks where credit card transactions typically come from and automatically flags atypical transactions as fraudulent.

This behavior considerably increases the security of all LSUS accounts.

I am traveling and currently locked out of my account. What do I do?

You can clear this lock by resetting your password. For guidance on how to reset your password, please see this helpdesk article:

How do I reset my LSUS Single Sign-On (SSO) Password? : LSUS IT Helpdesk

You can also reach out to our helpdesk at 318-797-5221 from 8:00AM to 4:30PM CT and we can reset your password on your behalf.

A password reset will place your account into what Microsoft calls a "safe state" which will allow you to login once again.

How do I avoid this in the future?

Unfortunately, getting around this security feature is not easy by design. While we typically recommend against using a VPN service such as NordVPN to re-route your network traffic, if you travel frequently, you may find using one provides you with a more consistent experience provided you configure the VPN service to always route your traffic to the same datacenter/location.

If you need any additional information or assistance, please submit a ticket at https://helpdesk.lsus.edu or call 318-797-5221.