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Require multifactor authentication for elevated sign-in risk

Most users have normal behavior that can be tracked. When their behavior falls outside this norm, it might be risky to let them sign in. You might want to block the user or ask them to complete multifactor authentication to confirm their identity.

Sign-in risk represents the likelihood that an authentication request isn't from the identity owner. Organizations with Microsoft Entra ID P2 licenses can create Conditional Access policies incorporating Microsoft Entra ID Protection sign-in risk detections.

The sign-in risk-based policy prevents users from registering MFA during risky sessions. If users aren't registered for MFA, their risky sign-ins are blocked, and they receive an AADSTS53004 error.

User exclusions

Conditional Access policies are powerful tools. We recommend excluding the following accounts from your policies:

  • Emergency access or break-glass accounts to prevent lockout due to policy misconfiguration. In the unlikely scenario where all administrators are locked out, your emergency access administrative account can be used to sign in and recover access.
  • Service accounts and Service principals, such as the Microsoft Entra Connect Sync Account. Service accounts are noninteractive accounts that aren't tied to any specific user. They're typically used by backend services to allow programmatic access to applications, but they're also used to sign in to systems for administrative purposes. Calls made by service principals aren't blocked by Conditional Access policies scoped to users. Use Conditional Access for workload identities to define policies that target service principals.
    • If your organization uses these accounts in scripts or code, replace them with managed identities.

Template deployment

Organizations can deploy this policy by following the steps outlined below or by using the Conditional Access templates.

Enable with Conditional Access policy

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Conditional Access Administrator.
  2. Browse to Entra ID > Conditional Access.
  3. Select New policy.
  4. Give your policy a name. We recommend that organizations create a meaningful standard for the names of their policies.
  5. Under Assignments, select Users or workload identities.
    1. Under Include, select All users.
    2. Under Exclude, select Users and groups and choose your organization's emergency access or break-glass accounts.
    3. Select Done.
  6. Under Cloud apps or actions > Include, select All resources (formerly 'All cloud apps').
  7. Under Conditions > Sign-in risk, set Configure to Yes.
    1. Under Select the sign-in risk level this policy will apply to, select High and Medium. This guidance is based on Microsoft recommendations and might be different for each organization
    2. Select Done.
  8. Under Access controls > Grant, select Grant access.
    1. Select Require authentication strength, then select the built-in Multifactor authentication authentication strength from the list.
    2. Select Select.
  9. Under Session.
    1. Select Sign-in frequency.
    2. Ensure Every time is selected.
    3. Select Select.
  10. Confirm your settings and set Enable policy to Report-only.
  11. Select Create to create to enable your policy.

After confirming your settings using policy impact or report-only mode, move the Enable policy toggle from Report-only to On.

Passwordless scenarios

For organizations that adopt passwordless authentication methods make the following changes:

Update your passwordless sign-in risk policy

  1. Under Users:
    1. Include, select Users and groups and target your passwordless users.
    2. Under Exclude, select Users and groups and choose your organization's emergency access or break-glass accounts.
    3. Select Done.
  2. Under Cloud apps or actions > Include, select All resources (formerly 'All cloud apps').
  3. Under Conditions > Sign-in risk, set Configure to Yes.
    1. Under Select the sign-in risk level this policy will apply to, select High and Medium. For more information on risk levels, see Choosing acceptable risk levels.
    2. Select Done.
  4. Under Access controls > Grant, select Grant access.
    1. Select Require authentication strength, then select the built-in Passwordless MFA or Phishing-resistant MFA based on which method the targeted users have.
    2. Select Select.
  5. Under Session:
    1. Select Sign-in frequency.
    2. Ensure Every time is selected.
    3. Select Select.

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