{"id":395,"date":"2026-08-11T15:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T22:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.analogman.org\/?p=395"},"modified":"2026-08-11T15:47:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T22:47:20","slug":"microsoft-retiring-sms-voice-based-mfa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.analogman.org\/?p=395","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft retiring SMS\/voice-based MFA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s a simplified summary of this Microsoft Entra ID authentication change, with the key action items broken out clearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Executive summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Microsoft is retiring SMS\/voice-based MFA (multi-factor authentication) in Entra ID on <strong>February 1, 2027<\/strong>, replacing it with passkeys as the default, phishing-resistant sign-in method. This affects only tenants with users currently using SMS or voice codes to sign in \u2014 organizations that already use apps, hardware keys, or passkeys for MFA are unaffected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who this actually applies to<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>No action needed:<\/strong> If no users in your tenant are enabled for SMS or voice MFA, you can disregard this entirely.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Action required:<\/strong> If even one user is enabled for SMS or voice MFA, that user (and your organization) must transition them to passkeys or another phishing-resistant method before February 1, 2027.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Special case:<\/strong> Organizations with a regulatory or operational need to keep SMS\/voice must configure a customer-managed telecom provider through the Microsoft Security Store \u2014 this is a separate workaround, not the default path.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key dates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Date<\/th><th>What happens<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>September 1, 2026<\/td><td>Users still on SMS\/voice are auto-enrolled for passkeys and nudged to register one at their next MFA prompt. You can opt out of this specific nudge by moving users off SMS\/voice beforehand.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>February 1, 2027<\/td><td>Microsoft-provided SMS\/voice authentication is fully retired \u2014 no exceptions, no opt-out.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>After February 1, 2027<\/td><td>Any user whose <em>only<\/em> MFA method is SMS\/voice gets a blocking prompt and cannot sign in until they register a passkey.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Sept 18 \u2013 Oct 30, 2026<\/td><td>Window for reviewing\/configuring a third-party (customer-managed) telecom provider, if that&#8217;s needed instead.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why it&#8217;s changing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SMS and voice codes are the weakest MFA methods available, vulnerable to phishing, SIM-swapping, and replay attacks. Passkeys resist these attacks because they&#8217;re tied to a device and can&#8217;t be intercepted or phished the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Recommended action steps (for affected tenants only)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Identify which users are currently enabled for SMS or voice MFA in the Authentication Methods Policy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enable passkeys and run a registration push to get those users switched over before September 1, 2026 (this avoids the auto-enrollment nudge and later blocking prompts).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Communicate the change directly to affected users \u2014 what&#8217;s changing, when, and what they need to do.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Only if there&#8217;s a genuine regulatory\/operational requirement to keep SMS\/voice: evaluate a customer-managed telecom provider via the Microsoft Security Store before the Feb 1, 2027 cutoff.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bottom line for your clients: check if anyone is using SMS\/voice for MFA \u2014 if not, ignore this notice; if so, get them onto passkeys well before September 2026 to stay in control of the timeline rather than being forced into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a simplified summary of this Microsoft Entra ID authentication change, with the key action items broken out clearly. Executive summary Microsoft is retiring SMS\/voice-based MFA (multi-factor authentication) in Entra ID on February 1, 2027, replacing it with passkeys as the default, phishing-resistant sign-in method. This affects only tenants with users currently using SMS or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[41,40,42],"class_list":["post-395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mfa","tag-microsoft","tag-security"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.analogman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.analogman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.analogman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.analogman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.analogman.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.analogman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":398,"href":"https:\/\/www.analogman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395\/revisions\/398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.analogman.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.analogman.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.analogman.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}