# Azure Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

> Introduced Office 365 and put multi-factor authentication in front of it, as part of a wider push to protect business data.

Canonical: https://mikereams.com/work/azure-multi-factor-authentication-mfa

Year: 2018  
Technology: Microsoft Azure, Azure Active Directory, Active Directory, Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Authenticator, Microsoft 365  
Topics: MFA, Security, Azure, Cyber Security, Governance, Risk, and Compliance, Identity and Access Management, Information Security, Networking  
Diagrams: [Identity Lifecycle Attribute Flow](https://mikereams.com/diagrams/ilm-attribute-flow)

![Azure Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)](https://mikereams.com/work/b16f230f7915cf164d0ffc603543d3d1b9110b52-816x350.png)

## The situation

The business was working to improve its security posture and protect its data. Introducing Office 365 (now Microsoft 365) was part of that effort, and multi-factor authentication came with it.

## What I did

- Introduced Office 365 as the business's cloud productivity platform.
- Connected on-premises Active Directory identities to Azure AD, the prerequisite for Azure MFA.
- Designed the MFA method: each user registers a text-capable phone for one-time codes, with a secondary email as backup.