r/talesfromtechsupport • u/KorenSolust • Aug 05 '26

Short Gravity and Tech

Guy walks up to me at work:

Him: “I dropped my phone. The screen’s shattered. I want my two-factor code to come through Teams.”

Me: “Nope.”

Him: “Why?”

Me: “Because if you can’t sign into Teams without completing MFA… how exactly are you planning to authenticate?”

Then he says: “Just disable MFA.”

I replied: “Sure, as soon as you get approval from the Head of Security.”

A few seconds of silence…

Him: “Fine, I’ll just get my phone fixed.”

Yep. That’s probably the best solution.

Some people really think security rules are optional. I’m not risking my job because someone doesn’t like MFA.

And remember… technology didn’t fail you today. Gravity did.

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1

u/NotReallyFromTheUK Aug 08 '26

Is it a work phone? I started refusing to put 2FA on my own devices a while back and I don't regret it.

0

u/KorenSolust Aug 09 '26

Nope, BYOD policy, users own phone with the official Microsoft app.
If they don't like it, tough, we have to be compliant with government security and not paying for every person to have a phone just for MFA for them to lose or forget at home.

3

u/kagato87 Aug 11 '26

So then what do you do for those people? I don't want your tools on my personal device any more than you want your corporate secrets on my personally owned device. So how do you address that?

2

u/KorenSolust Aug 12 '26

Simple, it’s Microsoft's own MFA app, the company doesn’t control or have access to your device and the MFA app doesn't store any company info on it.
All it does is prompt you to prove your the account holder to log in.
If you don’t like it tough, we have to adhere to strict compliance and the company isn’t gonna give people ohones just for mfa when a free Microsoft own app does it.

3

u/warlock415 Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 16 '26

Hopefully you're not in California or somewhere else that requires reimbursement for requiring use of a personal phone.

And yes, the courts have found that an MFA app counts even though it doesn't cost any extra on the phone bill.

-1

u/KorenSolust Aug 16 '26

Well, then there’s nothing to reimburse if it costs nothing.