{"id":4450,"date":"2023-01-26T13:59:21","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T18:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lg-staging.lougcloud.com\/?p=4450"},"modified":"2024-12-11T10:21:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T15:21:46","slug":"microsoft-number-matching-faqs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lg-staging.lougcloud.com\/?p=4450","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Number Matching FAQs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-85bp3-f856194ef33e7bc72ec0d3bf98278fce\">\n.flex_column.av-85bp3-f856194ef33e7bc72ec0d3bf98278fce{\nborder-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;\npadding:0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-85bp3-f856194ef33e7bc72ec0d3bf98278fce av_one_full  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  first flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding  '     ><p><br \/>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-k0pon615-92ea21455f84089b14b66129c69212c2 '  ><div class='avia_textblock' ><h1>Microsoft is rolling out a new security feature that will change the way Microsoft 365 subscribers verify their identities.<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/section><br \/>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-k0pop9td-6f2be3fdb894b8ee4cfa5101dcaa6100 '  ><div class='avia_textblock' ><p>Starting February 27, 2023, Microsoft will be implementing some changes to increase the security of Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) push notifications by using \u201cNumber Matching.\u201d Number matching is a setting that forces the user to enter numbers from the identity platform into their app to approve the authentication request.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What is Number Matching?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Number matching is a setting that forces the user to enter numbers from the identity platform into their app to approve the authentication request.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Why is Microsoft making this change?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In short, cybercriminals have discovered loopholes to bypass traditional MFA checks, so Microsoft is making this change to solely due to security concerns.<\/p>\n<p>The long version goes like this. In September 2022, <a href=\"https:\/\/techcommunity.microsoft.com\/t5\/microsoft-entra-azure-ad-blog\/defend-your-users-from-mfa-fatigue-attacks\/ba-p\/2365677\">Microsoft<\/a> warned about the rise in \u201cMFA fatigue attacks,\u201d a technique also known as an \u201cMFA push spam,\u201d which occurs when hackers run scripts that attempt to login repeatedly with stolen credentials. This results in thousands of MFA push requests sent to the victims mobile device. In many cases, the targeted users are so overwhelmed that they click the \u201cApprove\u201d button to end the flood of notifications.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How does Number Matching mitigate MFA Fatigue?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cisa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/fact-sheet-implement-number-matching-in-mfa-applications-508c.pdf\">CSA<\/a>, requiring access to the login screen (versus a mobile device) to approve requests. Users cannot approve requests without entering the numbers on the login screen.<\/p>\n<p>Also, it discourages prompt spam because each prompt generates a unique set of numbers for every login request. As the user cannot accept the prompts without knowing the numbers, generating multiple prompts is not effective.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What does Microsoft Authenticator Number Matching look like?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The pictures below show the user\u2019s view of an identity platform login screen that uses number matching.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4451\" src=\"https:\/\/lg-staging.lougcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/number-matching-example.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"624\" height=\"222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lg-staging.lougcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/number-matching-example.png 624w, https:\/\/lg-staging.lougcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/number-matching-example-300x107.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>I\u2019m a Microsoft 365 subscriber, do I need to do anything to prepare?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Microsoft recommends that users update their Authenticator app to the latest version of the app. For iPhone users, this automatically updates. For Android users, you may need to check to ensure your settings allow for automatic updates. To read Microsoft\u2019s full summary of how users should be prepared, <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/azure\/active-directory\/authentication\/how-to-mfa-number-match#how-should-users-be-prepared-for-default-number-matching\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Does this only apply to Microsoft Authenticator? What if I use a different authentication method?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>If you have a different default authentication method, there won&#8217;t be any changes to the default sign-in. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/azure\/active-directory\/authentication\/how-to-mfa-number-match#does-number-matching-only-apply-if-microsoft-authenticator-is-set-as-the-default-authentication-method\">Microsoft<\/a>, the default method is Microsoft Authenticator and they are members of groups targeted for Push or Any on the Enable and Target tab, they&#8217;ll start to receive number matching approval on February 27th, 2023.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Will I still be able to use my Apple Watch Microsoft Authenticator app?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Microsoft Authenticator will no longer work on Apple Watch. This is because watchOS will no longer be compatible with Authenticator security features.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-geek-news","category-microsoft","category-tech-tips"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Microsoft Number Matching FAQs - Louisville Geek<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Starting February 27, 2023, Microsoft will be implementing some changes to increase the security of Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) push notifications by using \u201cNumber Matching.\u201d Number matching is a setting that forces the user to enter numbers from the identity platform into their app to approve the authentication request.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Microsoft Number Matching FAQs - 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