Blog Post

Microsoft Entra Blog
2 MIN READ

Microsoft Authenticator app—now sends security notifications

Alex Simons (AZURE)'s avatar
Feb 04, 2019

Howdy folks,

 

I'm excited to share with you that starting today, we will help you have more confidence and visibility into your personal Microsoft account activities by giving you security notifications delivered in the Microsoft Authenticator app.

 

When important events—such as a password change—happen on your personal Microsoft account, Microsoft Authenticator will send you a notification. You can then view your account activity and take actions to protect your account if needed. The goal of these notifications is to increase awareness and help you react quickly if there is unexpected activity.

 

To receive these security notifications just download the Microsoft Authenticator app. (Make sure you’re running the latest version available in the App Store.) Then set up your personal Microsoft account on the Microsoft Authenticator app.

 

You’ll automatically start receiving alerts when we detect sensitive or unusual actions on your account, such as changing your password, adding a new phone number or email addresses, or signing in from a new device or unusual location. These notifications give you a powerful tool to understand and keep control of your account.

If you receive a notification that you’re concerned about, you can quickly view your account activity and take necessary actions to protect your account. This may include changing your password or updating your security contact information.

 

 

If you have additional questions, check out our FAQs.  Let us know what you think in the comments below. As always, we’d love to hear any feedback or suggestions you have.

 

Best regards,

 

Alex Simons (@Alex_A_Simons )

Corporate VP of Program Management

Microsoft Identity Division

Updated Jul 24, 2020
Version 12.0
  • ComputerWiz's avatar
    ComputerWiz
    Copper Contributor

    Hi Olena Huang,

     

    To be clear, I know that the QR code listed on the website had expired after attempting to utilize the code an URL. Nonetheless, thanks again for following up with me and your input. I appreciate your interests. Please also note that I contacted Microsoft via phone and I was redirected to the exact same website url for additional resources. Thus, I am still not able to authenticate the application. Moreover, I would like to confirm that I have a work or school account as I am a Web developer for the university that I am currently attending as a graduate student studying Information Technology. As I am unable to receive a QR scan code and url which should be automatically generated via email. As I stated in the previous posting, I am a registered user and that I have attempted to sign into the MS Authenticator. Additionally, I have already entered my credentials to receive an automated response via my cellular device.  I hope that this information may assist you.  Looking forward to your response. Thanks for your time and happy testing! 

     

    Kind Regards,

    ComputerWiz

  • Hi ComputerWhiz,

     

    Thanks for clarifying. The QR code/URL will not be sent to you via email. Instead, it's usually available at a website. Depending on how your organization is configured, that url may be aka.ms/MFAsetup or you may have to ask your IT admin for the URL.

     

    Thanks

    Olena

  • djones320's avatar
    djones320
    Copper Contributor

    Hi,

     

    Are there any plans to make Authenticator settings configurable via Managed App Configuration? So admins can configure it via their choice of MDM.

     

    I can't find any documentation on this online. 

     

    Thanks, 

     

  • djones320 No, there aren't plans to make Authenticator settings configurable through Managed App Configuration, App Protection Policies, and so forth. We've found that none of the existing technologies meet our needs, because Authenticator is a mechanism for authentication, so you get into a lot of looping scenarios. Instead, we're building a new, separate interface to configure settings on Authenticator.

  • djones320's avatar
    djones320
    Copper Contributor

    Thanks for the update Olena, will this be configured via Azure Portal or InTune then? Or could we do it some other way via a 3rd Party MDM? 

     

  • djones320 These Authenticator-specific settings will be configured in the Azure Portal on a new blade that we are currently developing (or by API).