Howdy folks,
Today, I would like to update you on our work to enable use of third-party multi-factor authentication (MFA) providers with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). Customers have asked to use their existing third-party MFA investments with Azure AD. We provided a preview of this capability by extending Conditional Access through custom controls. Based on customer feedback, it is clear that this approach is too limited, so we are redesigning the feature to ensure we can give you all the functionality you’ve asked for.
We are planning to replace the current preview with an approach which will allow partner-provided authentication capabilities to work seamlessly with the Azure AD administrator and end user experiences. Today, partner MFA solutions can only function after a password has been entered, don’t serve as MFA for step-up authentication on other key scenarios, and don’t integrate with end user or administrative credential management functions. The new implementation will allow partner-provided authentication factors to work alongside built-in factors for key scenarios including registration, usage, MFA claims, step-up authentication, reporting, and logging.
The current, limited approach will be supported in preview until the new design is completed, previews, and reaches “General Availability.” At that point, we will provide time for customers to migrate to the new implementation. Because of the limitations of the current approach, we will not onboard any new providers until the new capabilities are ready.
We are working closely with customers and providers and will communicate timeline as we get closer.
We always love to hear your feedback and suggestions and look forward to hearing from you! Let us know what you think in the comments below or reach out to us on Twitter (@azuread).
Best Regards,
Alex Simons (@alex_a_simons)
Corporate Vice President
Microsoft Identity Division