How to Turn On Microsoft 365 Multi-Factor Authentication
It’s a dangerous world out there, especially online, and you shouldn’t trust your username and password alone for access to critical apps and services like Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365). To ensure that your data and account information remains safe and secure, enable and use multi-factor authentication. Here’s what you need to know about multi-factor authentication (and its close relative, two-factor authentication) for Microsoft 365. Here’s now to set up Multi-factor Authentication for Microsoft 365:
What Is Multi-Factor Authentication?
Multi-factor authentication (aka two-factor authentication or 2FA) is sort of what it sounds like: It’s a security scheme that requires users to provide multiple forms of authentication to log into an app or service. But what is a form of authentication? Security experts put all the various methods of login into an app or service into four general categories: To do that, install the app you want to use on your phone and then click Set up identity verification app in the Identity verification apps section of the page.
Knowledge includes information you traditionally memorize or use a tool to store for you, such as a username, password, and PIN. Possession is characterized as information or technology you typically carry on your person and is therefore difficult for someone else to get access to. Examples include one-time codes sent to your phone for immediate use or a code generated by an authenticator app like Google Authenticator. Inheritance is typically biometric data that, for all intents and purposes, is unique to you, such as fingerprints, face recognition, or voice prints. Location is authentication that relies on knowing where you physically are (compared to where you should be) at the time you’re attempting to log into the service.
In general, multi-factor authentication is any login technique that relies on two or more of these. Two-factor authentication is a special case of multi-factor authentication that only uses two types, such as a username and a one-time code. For clarity, some security experts say that multi-factor authentication is defined as using three or more. Microsoft, however, refers to its two-factor authentication system as multi-factor authentication.
