Microsoft warns Authenticator will block rooted Android and jailbroken iOS, verify if your phone is affected.

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[–] 74 points 4 months ago* (35 children)

Why would you use microsoft Authenticator anyway? There are other options

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  • [–] 66 points 4 months ago (19 children)
  • [–] 14 points 4 months ago*

    I don't really mind using shit software on work devices. Yes it's slow and inefficient, I spent half an hour today on Windows doing what would be a very short command on Linux. Fuck it, get paid the same. I just use Linux at home in my own time.

    I'll point out better software exists. If I don't get support in changing it or allowed to change it, fuck it. It's on them at that point.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (8 children)

    You can use other authenticators. I use ente auth for my microsoft account

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  • [–] 17 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    I can't. The authenticator for my job was set up on my work device by my IT department.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    Sucks to have that. Have you tried asking IT if you could use a different one?

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    The main problem as I see it is if I have to download authenticator onto my personal device because something has happened to my work device. That's the only way I could see this being a problem since I use Graphene OS on my personal phone. Even then I would probably just use the authenticator on my work computer rather than going to that trouble.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    Only if the company supports OTP methods for Entra login (logging in to M365 account).

    But I'd say most don't anymore, as there has been a push towards Microsoft Authenticators push-method for a while (where the website/app shows a number and you have to type it in to the authenticator), as it is a slightly safer method than OTP, and can be used passwordless.

    It also made people ready for passkeys, as the authenticator supports easy activation off passkey on accounts that are saved with push-method (you pretty much just click a button in the app), and authenticator is easy to set up on the admin side if you require device bound and attestation for passkey.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    You don't need it for work. You can use any authenticator.

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  • [–] 36 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    It depends…. Your company IT department can choose what types of 2FA are available to use and Microsoft Authenticator is separate from OTP and other methods, and it is possible to restrict them.

    That’s also yet another reason why I force the issue of a company phone as part of my equipment to do my job.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago*

    Work isn't an excuse unless your work is trying to cut corners by having you use your personal phone instead of providing a work one. In which case they deserve to be taught this lesson for being cheap as fuck.

    Your IT should be issuing you a phone handled by MDM, which should be locked down and not allow you to use a rooted or jailbroken device anyway.

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  • [–] 12 points 4 months ago

    Nope, the Microsoft authenticator is slightly different, and other authenticators won't work. I just went through this with my IT dep. Microsoft authenticator will sometimes pop the numbers up on the computer and make you enter it in the app, not the other way around.

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  • [–] 15 points 4 months ago

    Some organizations require authenticator; they don't just use it for MFA codes, it's goes deeper than that.

    Also, most large enterprise fall for the stupid Microsoft trap. They buy enterpise licensing in bulk (E3, E5, whatever) and bosses who have no brains will say "well, let's use more microsoft products since they're 'free'". The trap is that, yes, your enterprise license agreement includes entitlements to a lot of their stuff, but they nickle and dime you on stupid shit like the storage so you can keep the logging and telemetry data you typically need for security, troubleshooting and some audit requirements.

    I can't imagine ever using any of their shit beyond Office products. Their security software is crap compared to most offerings, they still seem to think that networks are bad so we should do as little as possible about them. Azure is just a completely uncontrollable money drain (by design) that is damn near impossible to secure properly once you give developers enough access to actually do their jobs.

    I've been working in security for a long time now and they continue to be such a fucking liability and drain on money at every turn. If I ran the zoo, I would switch the entire enteprise to Linux and find just about any other collaboration suite to use.

    Fuck Excel and fuck you if all you do with it is make lists. Fuck powerpoint and fuck every boss who is too dumb to read and only can accept information when it is spoon fed to them in a deck. Word is OK, but nobody reads anymore so what's the point?

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    I had to use it for my work. They required MS authenticator. I think it's bullshit and tried to export my 2fa to bitwarden. I couldn't. And to add another 2fa .method I need to call support so I gave it up

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago* (2 children)

    They don't let you use https://mysignins.microsoft.com/ to replace/add MFA methods? That site was very useful at my last employer, as I was switching phones often.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Guessing IT can mandate which MFA options are available for users to choose

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    Probably. I suppose that I was lucky that I could manage these things myself. As we had only one local IT FTE, and I wouldn't have known who to contact beyond that single resource. And might have hated life if I had needed someone else to manage this for me.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago

    I had a yubikey as my hardware authentication, then a coworkers email got hacked so IT moved us all to Microsoft authenticator, so now I have a less secure login method LOL

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    When you are using your phone for your work you don't really have the choice.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    Yup, I use Aegis, and found a strange little trick with Bitwarden Authenticator where I can import them into the main app (the Vaultwarden server). I know keeping all my power in one place defeats the purpose of 2FA but you know, I trust Vaultwarden, and myself to keep it secure, implicitly.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago*

    This change is really more about enterprise use cases. If you take DLP seriously you need to make sure the integrity of the controls on work provided devices are intact. Authenticator isn't managed by intune since users could use it for many things.

    Nothing stops someone taking a photo of another screen. It's not a panacea. It's just one more hurdle.

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