Two-Factor Authentication in SharePoint 2019

Question

I have a SharePoint 2019 environment, and I need to allow the 2 factor authentication for editor users, How can I implement Two-Factor Authentication in SharePoint 2019?

Answer 1

What's Two-Factor Authentication?

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is known as two-step verification, which safeguards your logins and helps you and your users defend against phishing, social engineering, and brute-force password attacks.

It is a security procedure that requires a user to complete two distinct authentication procedures to access a computer system, a device, or an account as below:

1. Username and password are the first factors,
2. The second factor is what you might have as unique like a (Smartphone, security tokens, or biometrics) to approve authentication requests

By turning on 2FA, you'll increase security and make it more difficult for hackers to access data through a user's device or an online account.

How to enable Two-Factor Authentication in SharePoint 2019?

Unfortunately, SharePoint Server 2019/2016/2013 doesn't have a built-in authentication method for Two-Factor Authentication.

In SharePoint 2019 and prior versions, SharePoint Server supported three types of authentication methods:

• Windows authentication (New Technology LAN Manager (NTLM), Kerberos, etc.)
• Forms-based authentication
• Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) 1.1-based authentication

Alternatives to using MFA in SharePoint 2019?

As a workaround solution to use MFA or 2FA in SharePoint 2019, you have to use one of the below third-party tools:

1. miniOrange
2. HarePoint doesn't support Windows Authentication, and only works with Form based authentication
3. RSA

Read also Authentication overview for SharePoint Server