Microsoft Announces Multi-Factor Authentication for All Office 365 Users

Microsoft has added a second layer of login verification to all users of the Office 365 suite and plans to expand it to Office desktop applications, the company wrote on its blog.

Multi-factor authentication, also known as two-factor authentication, asks the user to provide extra information to access an account besides the standard password.

“Multi-factor authentication increases the security of user logins for cloud services above and beyond just a password,” says Paul Andrew, technical product manager in the Office 365 team. “With Multi-Factor Authentication for Office 365, users are required to acknowledge a phone call, text message, or an app notification on their smartphone after correctly entering their password.”

Microsoft now provides the functionality to Office 365 for midsize business, enterprise plans, academic plans, nonprofit plans and standalone Office 365 plans including Exchange Online and SharePoint Online.

In 2014, the company intends to add extra verification to Office 2013 client applications.