UCLA Linux Users Group. Free as in Freedom.

Email Account Guide

Posted at — Jan 1, 0001

NEW: Multi-Factor Authentication

The University is mandating that multi-factor authentication (MFA) be enabled for all email accounts by May 1, 2025. Specifically, we are using Cisco Duo as our MFA service, to be consistent with MyUCLA, UCLA Google Apps, and the UCLA Campus VPN. Even if you have UCLA Duo set up already, this uses a slightly different instance belonging to UCLA Computer Science specifically.

We have activated MFA starting on April 25. You must follow the below instructions to access your inbox.

Enrollment Instructions

  1. Install the Duo app on your mobile device (iOS, Android). You can also use a compatible security key.
  2. SSH into your virtual machine.
  3. Run ssh [your username]@10.0.0.10 in the shell—this connects to the mail server.
  1. You will be prompted to enroll in Duo MFA. Paste any one of the links into your browser and follow the on-screen instructions.

We recommend against using text messages as your authentication method, because they leave you vulnerable to SIM swap attacks.

  1. You can Ctrl+C out of the SSH password prompt once you’ve enrolled.

  2. Try rerunning the last SSH command. You should now get a Duo push on your phone, which logs you in once accepted.

Now would be a good time to change your password if you haven’t done so already! Just run the passwd command on the “paris” server.

  1. Now, you can log into your email inbox as you did before, with the added step of accepting the Duo push on your phone.

NOTE: your IMAP session is supposed to be cached for an hour to avoid spamming repeat Duo requests. Please contact us right away if this doesn’t work as intended—hitting “deny” on the Duo pushes repeatedly will only lock you out of your account, requiring manual intervention from the CS Department! You can reach us on Discord, XMPP, or use an alternative account to email board@linux.ucla.edu.

Logging in

I am using the following settings with Thunderbird to get in. I haven’t tried it with another email client but you are welcome to.

SMTP

Server Name: mail.linux.ucla.edu

Port: 587

Authentication method: Normal password

Connection security: STARTTLS

IMAP

Server Name: mail.linux.ucla.edu

Port: 993

Authentication method: Normal Password

Connection security: SSL/TLS

Changing your password

To change the password, SSH into your virtual machine and run the shell command ssh [your username]@10.0.0.10. Accept the Duo MFA push, or follow the MFA enrollment instructions if it’s your first time. Then use the passwd command to change your password.

(Yes we know, this is a pretty crappy and inelegant solution, but it’s good enough for now)