Account flagged as high risk

My UNBC email account keeps getting warning messages stating that my "computer account has been flagged as a high risk."

Why does this happen?

These warning emails come from our email security system, for a variety of reasons:

1. Your account is under attack from malicious users trying to compromise your account
2. You have logged in from different geographic locations, which is not your usual pattern (eg you’re travelling)
3. You’re using a non-UNBC VPN client

Please note: 

Any action involving login to Microsoft 365 services while using non-UNBC VPN can trigger this. That includes logging into OWA or connecting with desktop Outlook, but also logging into office.com or any other M365 site/service, or potentially even using the desktop Office suite.

UNBC VPN vs non-UNBC VPN:

UNBC’s VPN client comes from UNBC, so our security process trusts the IP address it is coming from and no alerts are triggered.

Non-UNBC VPN clients can have IP addresses from anywhere in the world, which looks to our security process as if your account is under attack.  There is no way for our security systems to know if you are using a VPN or if your account is in danger of being compromised, so it sends a warning message and will disable your account in order to protect it.

If you are away from campus, or attending remotely, here are some options for you:

UNBC Virtual Environments:

These virtual environments allow you to access your email, do you class work and access your home drive and other network drives that you might have access to at UNBC safely and securely.  These environments also allow you print documents that you can pick up on campus later.

More information on Virtual Desktop can be found here:  UNBC Virtual Desktop

UNBC VPN client:

Allows you to check your email and access network drives while you are on public wifi.

More information on UNBC VPN can be found here:  UNBC VPN Services

Personal/non-UNBC VPNs:

If you are concerned about the security of your connection and wish to have a VPN while you are performing non UNBC related tasks.