Case Study: Grand Canyon University achieves rapid MFA rollout and stronger security with Ping Identity

GCU replaces legacy federation with standards-based, MFA-ready platform

Grand Canyon University (GCU), a private university in Phoenix serving over 19,000 students, faced frequent bot and credential-stuffing attacks and recognized that its legacy federation and single-factor authentication left staff and systems exposed. The security team needed a stronger, standards-based identity solution that would protect against compromised credentials without degrading the user experience.

GCU replaced legacy federation components with PingFederate and deployed PingID for flexible multi-factor authentication, including mobile push (swipe, tap, fingerprint, facial recognition) and OTP, plus native Kerberos SSO. The solution rolled out to thousands of employees in under 30 days, delivered smooth adoption, and significantly strengthened GCU’s security posture while preserving seamless sign-on for users.

Grand Canyon University

Michael Manrod

Director of Security