From October 20th to 23rd the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) will be carrying out maintenance on Memorial’s VoIP telephone systems servicing the St. John’s Campus, Signal Hill Campus, off-campus sites in the St. John’s area, and Faculty of Nursing sites in Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, and Happy Valley-Goose Bay. This work will not affect telephone services at the Marine Institute, Grenfell Campus, Labrador Campus, or Harlow Campus. During this maintenance window, there may be a short period(s) where calls to and from external numbers receive a busy signal. Internal calling will not be impacted nor will in progress calls. Where possible, maintenance will be scheduled outside regular business hours to minimize disruption.
If you have any questions regarding this maintenance, please contact the OCIO Service Desk.

During this period if you require emergency assistance and cannot reach Campus Enforcement & Patrol at 709-864-4100 please call 709-699-9850.

Overview

Microsoft is retiring its native SMS and voice authentication services in Microsoft Entra ID and is transitioning users toward more secure, phishing-resistant authentication methods such as Passkey in Microsoft Authenticator, Passkey using FIDO2 security keys, and Microsoft Authenticator Number Matching. Starting September 1, 2026, eligible users may begin receiving Microsoft-managed prompts encouraging passkey registration. Beginning February 1, 2027, Microsoft-provided SMS and voice authentication services will be retired. Users who rely solely on SMS or voice authentication will need to register an alternative supported authentication method to continue signing in. 

What is Changing?

Microsoft is making passkeys the default authentication experience in Microsoft Entra ID. As part of this change:

September 1, 2026
Users enabled for SMS or voice authentication may begin receiving prompts encouraging them to register a passkey during sign in. According to Microsoft's current documentation, these prompts are intended to encourage registration and are not expected to block access.  

February 1, 2027
Microsoft-provided SMS and voice authentication services will be retired. Users whose only authentication methods are SMS or voice will be required to register a supported alternative authentication method in order to continue accessing their accounts.