The Raven authentication system was retired on Monday (13/01) after over 18 years in service in favour of a system run by Microsoft.

The new system, already used for university emails, will require multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all logins in order to increase security. It will be rolled out across all websites that currently use the Raven system.

The move has not been popular with some students. Speaking to Varsity, the chair of the Student Run Computing Facility (SRCF) Tim Clifford said: “It is very saddening to see our university, which was once a pioneering force in IT, deactivate yet another of our home-grown systems in favour of paying a corporation to do our work for us.”

The SRCF hosts and maintains a large number of websites for societies within the University, many of which use the Raven login system to control who can access sites.

Clifford told Varsity: “Anyone who has made a Raven-enabled site on the SRCF knows that historically, adding Raven protection has been extremely easy - just one or two extra lines of code to set which users can access the page. This simple system won’t be going away immediately, but the University Information Service (UIS) now refers to it as ‘legacy’, and it will be replaced by a more unwieldy system down the line.”

In regards to this potential additional administrative burden Clifford commented: “Student societies are more likely to engage with their alumni than other elements of the university, including via websites, and if this change results in more alumni being locked out of society websites, that will be a loss for the university community.”

Raven is not the first University service to be replaced with a Microsoft product. In 2018 the University began phasing out its Hermes email service in favour of Microsoft’s Outlook platform. The move was met with similar disappointment from students.

One student has gone as far as to organise a vigil on King’s Parade to mourn the end of the Raven service. The organiser of the vigil, Sam Hudson, told Varsity: “In an act of extraordinary cultural vandalism, the University Information Service has decided to kill off our beloved Raven. The heavy stone which these philistines throw kills not just one raven but many which we hold dear.”

A notable feature of Raven was its colourful logo changes to coincide with holidays and events, such as for LGBT+ History month, Halloween or the service’s own birthday. Hudson particularly mourned the loss of this feature, claiming: “These lively birds and the joy which they bring will now be buried behind the soulless and sterile Microsoft login page.”

The user interface for the new Microsoft system has also received criticism, with one student describing it as "modern" and "slow" and claiming that it will "require way more clicks". Users on the anonymous Facebook page Camfess also expressed concerns about accessibility issues stemming from the switch to MFA.  The MFA system has been praised by other students for improving user security.

The director of UIS Ian Leslie said: “The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has advised UK organisations that we are facing a period of heightened cyber security risk. The use of multi-factor authentication is in line with security best practices and is encouraged for personal and work-related accounts. The vast majority of students and staff are already using the Microsoft system to authenticate with their University Microsoft 365 environment, including their University email accounts.”

Leslie continued: “Our Service Desk is ready to support enquiries from the small number of staff and students who will be interacting with MFA for the first time, including anyone who requires adjustments for accessibility, following the change on Tuesday 14 February.”