HONOLULU — Unemployment Insurance claimants will need to use multi-factor authentication when logging into the UI web portal starting July 5, announced the Hawaii State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The additional step provides an extra layer of security to existing fraud detection and prevention measures.

“The addition of MFA is part of the DLIR’s next round of improvements geared towards making the web portal more secure, accessible and user friendly,” said DLIR Director Jade T. Butay in a news release. “We’re continuing to roll out upgrades to the existing portal while developing a new platform to replace the legacy application on the mainframe.”

When accessing the portal, users will be prompted to enter a verification code in order to proceed. The code is valid for 10 minutes. The verification code for existing claimants will go to their email address on file by default. They will have the option to change the default to send the code to a mobile phone.

Claimants creating new accounts will be able to have the code sent to either an email address or mobile phone.

The same mobile phone number can be used for multiple unemployment accounts.

If you experience difficulties with the MFA, contact the UI Call Center at one of the following numbers: 808-762-5751, 808-762-5752, or 1-833-901-2272 or 1-833-901-2275 toll free.