When studying abroad for a JanPlan course or for an Off Campus Studies program, we recommend following these steps prior to leaving and during your international experience. These instructions are for those who get a local phone for use while in the international country and need to reset their Okta MFA settings to the new phone.
Prior to leaving the US
1. Ensure you have the Okta Verify mobile app installed on your cell phone OR ensure you have Google Authenticator mobile app installed on your cell phone. Use whichever app you prefer to use as the app configured for your USA phone.
a. If you need to set up either of these before continuing, follow the steps outlined here: https://www.colby.edu/its/oktamfa/
2. On your computer, sign in to your Okta account at https://okta.colby.edu
3. In the top right corner, click on the arrow next to your name and select Settings from the drop-down menu
4. You should now be on your Okta personal settings page. Click the green Edit Profile button (shown below) to unlock your settings. If you do not see the button, continue on to step 5
5. If prompted for additional verification, enter your password again.
6. MFA options are configured in the Extra Verification section – a configured example is shown below. You may need to scroll down in the profile settings page to find it.
7. Noticed that Okta Verify is already configured. Those that aren’t configured have a Set up button next to them. We suggest keeping either this one or the Google Authenticator configured to your USA phone. The others can be changed and configured to use the international phone you use while in the international country. Remove any that you plan to set up on your international phone but keep either Okta Verify or Google Authenticator set up for the USA phone.
When you have your international phone
1. On your USA phone, if Okta Verify is configured for your USA phone, access your Okta Verify app. Otherwise, if Google Authenticator is configured for your USA phone, then access your Google Authenticator app. This can be done even in airplane mode and it doesn’t require wi-fi data for either mobile app.
2. You are given a 6-digit token. This token is reset every 60 seconds and can be used to sign into your Okta account to set up a new Okta MFA setting for your international phone.
3. Repeat steps 2 - 6 from the “Prior to leaving the US” section above and use the token from step 2 for your Okta MFA
4. Now you have access to Okta and can update the MFA options for your new phone.
Below are our suggestions for Okta MFA configurations
1. If using Okta Verify for your USA phone, then set up Google Authenticator for your international phone
2. If using Google Authenticator for your USA phone, then set up Okta Verify for your international phone
3. Don’t use Okta Verify and Google Authenticator for the same phone. This way you will always have access regardless of which phone is active
4. If your international phone supports SMS, set up the SMS Authentication to the international phone as a secondary option. This can be changed back to the USA phone once you return to the States.
5. Additional instructions and information can be found here: https://www.colby.edu/its/oktamfa/