Requires all of your users to use MFA with the Microsoft Authenticator app.

These subscriptions have security defaults turned on, which: Security defaults is a new feature for Microsoft 365 and Office 365 paid or trial subscriptions created after October 21, 2019. Use Azure AD Identity Protection to require MFA based on sign-in risk criteria. Use security defaults or Conditional Access policies to require MFA for user accounts based on group membership, apps, or other criteria. You can also configure per-user MFA on individual user accounts, but this isn't recommended.Īzure Active Directory (Azure AD) Premium P1 licenses Use security defaults, which require MFA for all user accounts. These ways are based on your Microsoft 365 plan.

For each individual user account (not recommended).

There are multiple ways in which you can enable MFA for Microsoft 365 and Office 365: In both cases, the MFA sign-in is using the 'something you have with you that isn't easily duplicated' method for the additional verification.

The Microsoft Authenticator smart phone app.

A text message sent to a phone that requires the user to type a verification code.MFA support in Microsoft 365īy default, both Microsoft 365 and Office 365 support MFA for user accounts using: With MFA, even if a strong user password is compromised, the attacker doesn't have your smart phone or your fingerprint to complete the sign-in.

The additional verification method isn't employed until after the user's password has been verified.

Something you uniquely and biologically have, such as your fingerprints, face, or other biometric attribute.

Something you have with you that isn't easily duplicated, such as a smart phone.

To provide an extra level of security for sign-ins, you must use multifactor authentication (MFA), which uses both a password, which should be strong, and an additional verification method based on: People can choose easy passwords and use the same passwords for multiple sign-ins to different computers and services. Passwords are the most common method of authenticating a sign-in to a computer or online service, but they're also the most vulnerable. Multifactor authentication for Microsoft 365 Multi-factor authentication (MFA) uses both a password, which should be strong, and an additional verification method.

Mfa microsoft setup