Skip to main content

Email one-time passcode (OTP) - Enable guest users without federation or registration

By

Nowadays, if you use Azure to run your business, there is an 80% chance of using Azure AD as the Identity and Access Management system. The strong integration with on-premises AD tenants, Google, Facebook and Azure AD B2B and Azure AD B2C makes our life much easier. 

What if you provide access to an external user that cannot be authenticated using AD, MSA (Microsoft Account) or social identity providers? Or you don't know what kind of IAM the user has.

OTP (Email one-time passcode) is your friend in this situation. The feature enables us to share resources or provide access to external users without requesting them to create an account. The only thing that the user needs is an email address and nothing more.

The one-time passcode is sent to their email address at the moment in time when they want to access the resource that you shared with them. The passcode is valid for 30 minutes and provides a valid session for the next 24 hours. If the passcode or session expires, there is no problem because the external user can request a new passcode again.


It's a great way to share resources with external users, especially when there is no federation or integration with their IAM system. The external user is added as guest to your Azure AD, and they are subject to Azure AD access policies (e.g. MFA) and can be managed directly by you. 

When OTP is active, there is a small trick. When you share a resource with an external user, you don't know if OTP will be used or not. The OTP is used if the user:

  • Don't have an MSA (Microsoft) account
  • Don't have an Azure AD account
  • No federation configured with their tenant
Because of this, when a user already used OTP and later gets an MSA, Azure AD or Ferederated account, they will still use OTP. From Azure AD, you will need to reset their redemption status to allow them to use another method. 

The excellent integration with OneDrive and SharePoint enables us to use OTP to share content with Guest users. Why? Because OneDrive and SharePoint are using Azure AD, the OTP is fully integrated (as long as your IT allows OTP (big smile).


Why you should use OPT (Email one-time passcode)?

A simple way to share content and provide access to your organization to external users that are not part of your tenant or a federated tenant. The access control it is fully managed by your organization and audited. Who, what and when can access is fully managed by IAM, as you would managed a guest user.  

Because of this, OTP can be used with success to share notes and materials after a meeting with external attendees. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Database Modernization Matters for AI

By
  When companies transition to the cloud, they typically begin with applications and virtual machines, which is often the easier part of the process. The actual complexity arises later when databases are moved. To save time and effort, cloud adoption is more of a cloud migration in an IaaS manner, fulfilling current, but not future needs. Even organisations that are already in the cloud find that their databases, although “migrated,” are not genuinely modernised. This disparity becomes particularly evident when they begin to explore AI technologies. Understanding Modernisation Beyond Migration Database modernisation is distinct from merely relocating an outdated database to Azure. It's about making your data layer ready for future needs, like automation, real-time analytics, and AI capabilities. AI needs high throughput, which can be achieved using native DB cloud capabilities. When your database runs in a traditional setup (even hosted in the cloud), in that case, you will enc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cloud Myths: Migrating to the cloud is quick and easy (Pill 2 of 5 / Cloud Pills)

By
The idea that migration to the cloud is simple, straightforward and rapid is a wrong assumption. It’s a common misconception of business stakeholders that generates delays, budget overruns and technical dept. A migration requires laborious planning, technical expertise and a rigorous process.  Migrations, especially cloud migrations, are not one-size-fits-all journeys. One of the most critical steps is under evaluation, under budget and under consideration. The evaluation phase, where existing infrastructure, applications, database, network and the end-to-end estate are evaluated and mapped to a cloud strategy, is crucial to ensure the success of cloud migration. Additional factors such as security, compliance, and system dependencies increase the complexity of cloud migration.  A misconception regarding lift-and-shits is that they are fast and cheap. Moving applications to the cloud without changes does not provide the capability to optimise costs and performance, leading to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cloud Myths: Cloud is Cheaper (Pill 1 of 5 / Cloud Pills)

By
Cloud Myths: Cloud is Cheaper (Pill 1 of 5 / Cloud Pills) The idea that moving to the cloud reduces the costs is a common misconception. The cloud infrastructure provides flexibility, scalability, and better CAPEX, but it does not guarantee lower costs without proper optimisation and management of the cloud services and infrastructure. Idle and unused resources, overprovisioning, oversize databases, and unnecessary data transfer can increase running costs. The regional pricing mode, multi-cloud complexity, and cost variety add extra complexity to the cost function. Cloud adoption without a cost governance strategy can result in unexpected expenses. Improper usage, combined with a pay-as-you-go model, can result in a nightmare for business stakeholders who cannot track and manage the monthly costs. Cloud-native services such as AI services, managed databases, and analytics platforms are powerful, provide out-of-the-shelve capabilities, and increase business agility and innovation. H...
Post a Comment
Read more