Original Article Text

Click to Toggle View

Microsoft now enforces MFA on Azure Portal sign-ins for all tenants. Microsoft says it has been enforcing multifactor authentication (MFA) for Azure Portal sign-ins across all tenants since March 2025. The company's Azure MFA enforcement efforts were announced in May 2024 when Redmond began implementing mandatory MFA for all users signing into Azure to administer resources. One year ago, in August 2024, Microsoft also warned Entra global admins to enable MFA for their tenants by October 15, 2024, to ensure users don't lose access to admin portals. After completing the rollout for Azure portal sign-ins, the company will begin enforcing MFA on Azure CLI, PowerShell, SDKs, and APIs in October 2025 to protect users' accounts against attacks. "We are proud to announce that multifactor enforcement for Azure Portal sign-ins was rolled out for 100% of Azure tenants in March 2025," Microsoft said on Friday. "By enforcing MFA for Azure sign-ins, we aim to provide you with the best protection against cyber threats as part of Microsoft's commitment to enhance security for all customers, taking one step closer to a more secure future." These changes follow a November 2023 announcement that Microsoft would soon roll out Conditional Access policies requiring MFA for all admins when signing into Microsoft admin portals (including Entra, Microsoft 365, Exchange, and Azure), for users on all cloud apps, as well as for high-risk sign-ins. As part of the same effort to boost MFA adoption, Microsoft-owned GitHub has begun enforcing two-factor authentication (2FA) for all active developers starting in January 2024. A Microsoft study from two years ago found that 99.99% of accounts protected by MFA successfully fend off hacking attempts and that MFA also lowers the likelihood of account compromise by 98.56%, even when attackers attempt to use stolen credentials. "Our goal is 100 percent multifactor authentication," former Microsoft VP of Identity Security Alex Weinert said at the time. "Given that formal studies show multifactor authentication reduces the risk of account takeover by over 99 percent, every user who authenticates should do so with modern strong authentication." Picus Blue Report 2025 is Here: 2X increase in password cracking 46% of environments had passwords cracked, nearly doubling from 25% last year. Get the Picus Blue Report 2025 now for a comprehensive look at more findings on prevention, detection, and data exfiltration trends.

Daily Brief Summary

VULNERABILITIES // Microsoft Mandates Multifactor Authentication for Azure Portal Access

Microsoft has enforced multifactor authentication (MFA) for Azure Portal sign-ins for all tenants since March 2025, enhancing security measures across its cloud services.

The initiative, first announced in May 2024, aims to protect users against cyber threats by requiring MFA for Azure administration access.

Following the Azure Portal rollout, MFA enforcement will extend to Azure CLI, PowerShell, SDKs, and APIs by October 2025, further safeguarding user accounts.

Microsoft previously advised Entra global admins to activate MFA by October 2024 to prevent loss of access to admin portals.

A Microsoft study revealed that MFA reduces account compromise risk by 98.56%, demonstrating its effectiveness in thwarting unauthorized access.

GitHub, owned by Microsoft, began enforcing two-factor authentication for developers in January 2024, aligning with Microsoft's broader MFA adoption strategy.

These efforts reflect Microsoft's commitment to achieving 100% MFA adoption, significantly reducing the risk of account takeovers.