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What is phishing-resistant MFA and why does it matter?

💻 Tech · updated 4 weeks ago · 3 min read
What is phishing-resistant MFA and why does it matter?
Short answerIt is multi-factor authentication that is designed to resist phishing, usually by using passkeys or security keys instead of codes that can be stolen.

Phishing-resistant MFA is a login setup that is hard to trick with a fake website or a stolen code. The point is not just to add a second step. It is to make that second step useless to an attacker who is trying to copy your login.

CISA says the widely available phishing-resistant approach is FIDO/WebAuthn authentication. In plain English, that usually means a passkey or a physical security key. Those methods are tied to the real site and the real device, which makes them much harder to steal than a text code or a push prompt.

Why it matters is simple: most account takeovers start with someone handing over a password or one-time code to the wrong place. Phishing-resistant MFA closes that hole better than basic MFA, so if an account offers it, that is the version to choose.

Sources

CISA - More than a Password
Microsoft - What is a passkey?

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