News and Announcements

Security changes coming to UW-Madison Box accounts on June 21, 2017

Posted: 2017-06-05 13:18:20   Expiration: 2018-06-21 13:18:20

Disclaimer: This news item was originally posted on 2017-06-05 13:18:20. Its content may no longer be timely or accurate.

Effective June 21, 2017, UW-Madison Box accounts will receive the following two security changes:

1. Unencrypted FTP access to UW-Madison Box accounts will be disabled.

Encrypted FTP access will still be available (FTPS, FTPES).

Learn more about using FTP clients to access your UW-Madison Box account.

Individuals who use an FTP client to access their UW-Madison Box account will be notified of this change on Tuesday, June 6th. View notification.

2. Increased password strength for UW-Madison Box external passwords and external collaborator passwords.

Individuals who created an external password for their UW-Madison Box account will be required to update their password to meet NetID password criteria and requirements. This primarily affects ftp and WebDav users.

Learn more:

External collaborators will also be required to have passwords that meet Box strong password criteria in order to collaborate on UW Madison files and folders. Existing external collaborators will only be affected if their current password does not meet Box strong password requirements.

For external collaborators that do not have strong passwords the experience will be the following:

  • Affected users will receive an email notification prompting them to login to the web app and change their password to regain access to that content.
  • Until the password is updated the collaborator will lose access to the files from mobile apps, Box Sync, and partner integrations.
  • The next time they login to the web app the user will be prompted to either accept the collaboration and change their password or reject the collaboration.
  • Users that do not update their passwords and reject the collaborator invitations will lose access to UW Madison content. If they later require access they will need to be re-invited as collaborators.

Please note that an external collaborator is defined as any account that is not a UW Madison Enterprise Box account. This includes personal Box accounts based on @wisc.edu or departmental email addresses (e.g. @doit.wisc.edu).


If you have any questions or concerns, contact the DoIT Help Desk.

-- Box: Christina Gomez