Enabling multi-factor authentication for the Azure portal

Ricky Keane picture Ricky Keane · Feb 22, 2016 · Viewed 10.7k times · Source

Is it possible to enable multi-factor authentication for getting access to the Azure portal, https://portal.azure.com?

I know there is an MFA server resource in Azure itself, but my understanding is that this is for Azure hosted applications/resources. I initially want to enable MFA for getting access to the portal itself, before setting it up for the different resources themselves in Azure.

Answer

Lanorkin picture Lanorkin · Feb 22, 2016

Yes, you can.

For example here they say

Add protection for Azure administrator accounts

Multi-Factor Authentication adds a layer of security to your Azure administrator account at no additional cost. When turned on, you need to confirm your identity to spin up a virtual machine, manage storage, or use other Azure services.

Here is one of step-by-step guides.

UPD Feb 2019

Azure is constantly evolving, so many answers and related articles quickly become outdated.

As it is now, MFA is not a free option. I would start reading this Microsoft page for details, in particular:

Multi-Factor Authentication comes as part of the following offerings:

  • Azure Active Directory Premium licenses
    • Azure MFA Service (Cloud)
    • Azure MFA Server
  • Multi-Factor Authentication for Office 365
  • Azure Active Directory Global Administrators